RBI is moving away from its Russian subsidiary – Kommersant FM
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Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International is trying to reduce risks associated with Russia. He will buy out the share of Rasperia Trading Ltd in the Strabag holding, controlled by Oleg Deripaska. This is an Austrian construction concern. The deal will be carried out through a subsidiary of Raiffeisenbank in Russia, which will pay €1.5 billion for almost 28% of the company’s shares. These securities will be transferred to the parent group in the form of dividends, the payment must be approved by the Russian authorities.
The concern itself says that then Strabag will cease to be indirectly controlled by Oleg Deripaska. Raiffeisen Bank will also benefit, noted Maria Udodova, a lawyer in the compliance and sanctions law practice at BGP Litigation:
“By virtue of Article 2 of the 269th EU blocking regulation, all funds and economic resources that are under the control of sanctioned persons must be frozen. A share in the authorized capital is also included in the concept of these funds and economic resources. That is, if a company is considered controlled by a sanctioned entity, then it cannot exercise its corporate rights.
This is mainly needed by the company, which currently cannot exercise its rights. In turn, Raiffeisen Bank will be able to eliminate reputational risks, so it also has its own benefits.
Another of our assumptions is related to the 12th package of sanctions, which introduced a new mechanism for the exchange of blocked assets. Accordingly, Russian sanctioned owners of European companies received the right to withdraw money from the sale of such blocked assets from the EU. If we assume that the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank has such a goal and plans to implement this mechanism in the future, it is possible that this will also be a benefit.”
As Bloomberg notes, the deal will allow the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank to reduce its stake in its Russian structure. This is exactly what they have been achieving for a year and a half, noted Nikita Ryabinin, head of the Luxembourg office of the KRK Group: “The parent company RBI is acting at a time when all European regulators, including the ECB, are putting pressure not only on them, but also on all regulated and unregulated institutions so that they work less with Russia and reduce their share. They take every opportunity to reduce their risk, and this deal allows Raiffeisen Bank to show how incredibly hard they are trying to reduce the Russian share of their group.”
Raiffeisen Bank International CEO Johann Strobl said in early November that the bank’s departure from Russia this year is unlikely. Although previously he did not rule out that the credit institution would leave the Russian market by the end of December. The company is still planning to sell its Russian business, but to do this it needs many permits, the receipt of which is slowing down the process.
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