RIA NOVOSTI. Sberbank will likely float its shares on Russian and Western exchanges, Sberbank CEO and board chairman German Gref told reporters, RIA Novosti wired.
“This amount of shares cannot be placed on the Russian market. I think this will be a mixed offering," he said Wednesday.
For the record, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation holds a 57.6% interest in Sberbank’s charter capital (60.3% of common shares). Russian authorities plan to sell 7.58% — 1 share in Sberbank in 2011—2013, retaining control over the lender.
According to Gref, buyers could include institutional investors, pension funds, investment and hedge funds. “There could be major lending institutions," the Sberbank executive added.
In early December the Sberbank chief executive said a 7.6% interest in the largest Russian bank could be released into private hands in 2011. Meanwhile, according to him, the lender does not think reasonable to draw a strategic investor as part of the government’s privatization program.
Gref noted that a reduction of the government’s interest in Sberbank below 50% will not be on the table in the foreseeable future. According to him, at the initial stage slightly more than 7% of the lending institution’s shares will be sold, while cutting the government’s stake below controlling will require legislative changes.
