INTERFAX. Nomos-Bank shareholders are to review at an April 28 meeting the issue of increasing the lending institution’s charter capital 7.5% to Rub 4.7 bln by issuing additional shares. The additional share issue will comprise 6,527,778 shares with Rub 50 par value each. The value of the SPO is Rub 326 mln at par. The bank has yet to disclose the placement price. The press release pointed out that the SPO shares will be floated via closed subscription among the bank’s Russian and Czech shareholders. SPO proceeds will be allocated to expand the bank’s current operations, including investments to broaden its regional network. In the January-March quarter of 2008 Nomos-Bank’s net assets climbed 29.4% to Rub 320.26 bln from Rub 247.49 bln.
Czech PPF Group presently owns 17.7% of Nomos-Bank’s shares. PPF Group purchased Nomos-Bank stocks by installments. The Czech business acquired the first 5% of the Russian bank’s securities in September 2007, it purchased the bank’s SPO shares for $200 mln in December, thereby increasing its equity position to 13.8% of the voting shares (11.9% of the charter capital). In February 2008 PPF Group’s interest in Nomos-Bank climbed to 17.69%. Earlier a source close to the bank said that the Czech group’s block of shares could be lifted to 50%-1 share. Nomos-Bank’s controlling stake is in the hands of ICT Group, whose beneficial owners are Alexander Nesis, Alexey Goudaytis, Nikolay Dobrinov and Mikhail Ushakov.
Earlier, Nomos-Bank and Home Credit & Finance Bank (HCF Bank, owned by PPF Group) were expected to be folded into the banking group. Meanwhile, securities of both banks were planned to be consolidated into the balance sheet of holding company Russia Finance Corporation (RFC). Later shareholders of each bank were to have obtained stakes in RFC. Be that as it may, the parties decided later not to form a group. In 2007, Nomos-Bank ranked 15th in terms of assets in the Interfax-100 ranking, prepared by Interfax-CEA.
