The Russian government is set to return for the first time during the crisis period a major bank it has rescued from bankruptcy, a business daily reported on Monday.
Russia, which receives a large part of its revenue from oil exports, was hit hard by the global financial crisis, prompting the government to take urgent measures to save the banking sector from collapse, extending direct and subordinated loans to major banks, most of them held in private hands.
To ease the fears of Russian and international investors, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said when the crisis struck that the government would not renationalize the economy. He vowed that private-sector recipients of state funds would be returned to their owners as soon as they were restored to financial health.
Kommersant daily said that insurance company Ingosstrakh, integrated into the BasEl industrial holding of Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, will be among the new owners of Soyuz Bank, once one of Russia's top 50 banks. BasEl controlled Soyuz Bank before it was taken over.
The ailing bank was bailed out in December 2008 when a 75% share package was purchased for a symbolic price by Gazfinans, a company affiliated with state-controlled energy giant Gazprom.
Under the deal, Gazfinans undertook to work out and implement the bank's financial recovery plan while the Deposit Insurance Agency provided financial assistance to the bank in the form of a loan.
According to information obtained by Kommersant, Gazfinans will now withdraw from the project while Ingosstrakh will join the Deposit Insurance Agency as the bank's new bailout managers.
Technically, the transfer will be done through the reduction of the bank's capital to 1 ruble and the purchase of an additional share issue worth 5 billion rubles ($170 million) by the new owners, the paper said.
The Deposit Insurance Agency will grant the bank a loan worth 5 billion rubles and repurchase Soyuz's credits worth 20 billion rubles ($678 million) extended to BasEl companies while Ingosstrakh and BasEl will direct cash flows into Soyuz.
Eventually, Ingosstrakh's stake in Soyuz could be increased to 100%, Kommersant said.
MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti)
