Mumbai:
French financial group Societe Generale, which has acquired
a 20-per cent stake in OAO Rosbank, has filed a request
with Russia''s antitrust authorities to exercise call option
worth about $1.7 billion to take control of the Russian
banking group.
The
acquisition was made at a record-high premium, with a
price-to-equity ratio of 5.9.
The
option gives La Defense-based Societe Generale , France''s
No.2 bank, the right to buy a 30-per cent stake in Rosbank,
which would boost its holding in the Russian lender to
50 per cent plus one share.
The stake would further rise to 58 per cent as a result
of a requirement to buy out a handful of minority shareholders.
"We
have asked the antitrust authorities for permission to
exercise the option," said Societe Generale spokeswoman
Stephanie Carson-Parker. "After that we will ask
the central bank for their permission and then we will
decide if we will go ahead."
Societe
Generale has until the end of 2008 to decide whether to
buy the additional stake.
Societe
Generale, one of the largest banks in the euro zone, has
been at the forefront of a pack of western banks looking
eastward at Russia''s fast-growing and retail banking sector.
Moscow-based
Rosbank is one of the largest privately owned banks in
Russia, operating about 650 outlets, including 67 branches,
in the majority of the country''s regions.
Other
western acquisition in Russia''s banking sector include
Belgium''s KBC Group NV''s April agreement to buy a majority
stake in Moscow-based Absolut Bank in a deal worth €761
million, while in January Italy''s UniCredit SpA agreed
to pay France''s VTB Bank SA $395 million for 20 per cent
of International Moscow Bank.
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