MOSCOW, September 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's state owned Vneshtorgbank (VTB) will be able to hold an initial public offering no earlier than the second half of 2006, a senior bank official said Tuesday.
Alexei Akinshin, Deputy CEO of Vneshtorgbank, said the bank would hold an IPO only after the VTB banking group was 100% operational, meaning only after a reliable financial control system was implemented within the group and the balance sheets of the member-banks were consolidated. The latter can be accomplished no earlier than the second half of 2006, he added.
The official said VTB intended to buy out the Central Bank's stakes in Russian banks operating abroad prior to the IPO, a mechanism to extend VTB's capital stock by $1.2 billion using budget funds.
VTB does not intend to buy out minority shares, since they will be necessary for its IPO framework, Akinshin said, adding that the bank planned to hold the IPO in Moscow and then in London, as was proposed by the Federal Financial Markets Service, Russia's executive body that controls and supervises activity in the financial markets.
