MOSCOW, August 25 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Finance Ministry will acquire shares of VTB Bank and Rosselkhozbank, or Russian Agricultural Bank, for 239 billion rubles [about $6.6 billion] using National Wealth Fund (NWF) funds, the Russian Cabinet’s press service reported Monday.
For this purpose, the ministry will use the NWF funds returned after fulfillment of obligations to repay subordinated loans to Vnesheconombank by VTB, Rosselkhozbank, Bank of Moscow and VTB 24. The loans were granted in accordance with the federal law "On Additional Measures to Support the Financial System of the Russian Federation."
"At the expense of the NWF funds, the Finance Finistry will acquire the shares of VTB and Rosselkhozbank totaling 239.04 billion rubles. The investing of the FNB funds into shares is due to the need to increase the Tier 1 capital by the said credit institutions," the press service reported.
The shares are not traded on the open market and are not part of any stock indices, as the issuance of shares will be carried out for the first time. In this regard, they are not subject to the rules of including shares of legal entities in the quotation list of at least one stock exchange and in the lists of securities used to measure Russian stock market indices – the RTS and MICEX index.