The Central Bank of Russia said it might allow its share in SBERBANK to shrink to 56.9% in the wake of an additional share issue by the bank. Its package of ordinary shares is to decrease to 59.6%, SBERBANK president and CEO Andrei Kazmin said. He added that SBERBANK’s capital might rise by R8.5 billion to R68.8b if R106b is raised from outside investors that are now SBERBANK shareholders. «We have no grounds to believe that payment for SBERBANK shares by investors without the priority right to buy the shares will be worse than payments by investors enjoying such a right," noted Kazmin. The head of the bank stressed that the state had not propped up quotations for SBERBANK shares.
Source: WWW.KOMMERSANT.RU, March 15, 2007
