Tochka Bank was sold for 41.5 billion rubles. a pool of buyers led by Interros

Tochka Bank was sold for 41.5 billion rubles.  a pool of buyers led by Interros

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The financial company Tochka, which owns the bank of the same name, was sold for 41.5 billion rubles, 1.7 times more than the initial price. The buyer of 90% of the shares was a consortium of investors led by Interros and with the participation of the management of Tochka itself, which VK holding and, possibly, other technology companies may join. As a result, Tochka will not have one controlling owner.

Bank of non-core assets “Trust” informed on the sale of 90% of the shares of Tochka JSC (owns the bank of the same name) for 41.5 billion rubles. at the initial price of 24.7 billion rubles. The deal will be closed by the end of September. The seller has not officially disclosed the buyers. However, the Interros holding (which controls Rosbank) announced that, as part of a pool of investors, together with the company’s management (it is headed by Tochka co-founder Andrey Zavadskikh), he exercised his “minority shareholder right.”

By the beginning of 2023, Tochka JSC had 366 thousand active clients with account balances of RUB 205 billion. The company provides banking and non-banking services, actively working with small businesses. The JSC itself has nine subsidiaries and affiliates, including a bank of the same name, established in early 2023.

As a result of the transaction, none of the investors will gain control over Tochka. “The package will be purchased at the price determined as a result of the last auction,” the source said. “Interros”. The head of “Trust” Alexander Sokolov in an interview RBC in April said that the use of the preemptive right was perhaps the highest bidder of the auction.

The minority shareholder in this case was Catalytic People Limited, which owns 9.9% of Tochka JSC. Between it and the “Trust” were concluded call-and put-option agreements. The last known document dated April 12, 2023 was signed on behalf of the director of Catalytic People Limited Vladislav Filev (the company was bought out by his daughter Tatyana; see “Kommersant” dated March 23). But now, according to a Kommersant source familiar with the situation, the Filev family is no longer among the beneficiaries, Catalytic People Limited is owned by a consortium led by Interros. S7 (the main asset of the Filev family) did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

One of Kommersant’s interlocutors believes that initially the Filev family was included in the asset as a strategic investor with intentions to build their own fintech business based on Tochka.

“But, apparently, they were made an offer to buy out a minority stake, which the Filevs could not refuse,” suggests the interlocutor of Kommersant. “Interros” in the transaction acts as a “long-term financial investor”, follows from the explanations of its CEO Sergei Batekhin.

The option agreement (on a put basis) stipulated the possibility of using a letter of credit from a top 13 bank. Documentation outside the agreement, published in the auction data room, also indicated the possibility of attracting loan funds from banks from the top 50.

According to Interros, the consortium of investors may include a number of technology companies, in particular, the Internet holding VK. Other details were not disclosed. VK did not comment on their interest in Tochka, but confirmed that they had received an offer to join the consortium and were considering it.

As a source close to VK explained, the integration of financial instruments into the company’s services “will help the holding increase advertising revenues from the small and medium-sized business segment.”

VK already has a financial asset – in March, the company bought out 100% of the settlement non-banking credit organization Dengi.Mail.Ru.

One of the investment bankers calls the final price of the asset too high. One reason for this value, he concedes, could be that “top management has been able to sell investors a growth story that is not visible from the outside.”

The scheme with a consortium of investors, in his opinion, reduces sanctions risks (Interros is on the US SDN list) and helps to increase the capitalization of the asset in order to recoup the costs, “since each of the participants may have its own synergy with the asset.” In addition, Kommersant’s interlocutor notes that there are “not many potential buyers on the market who have 40 billion rubles and are suitable for approval by the Central Bank.”

Olga Sherunkova, Ksenia Dementieva

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