VEDOMOSTI. VTB Bank has become the sole owner of the Bank of Moscow, the bank said in a report disclosing material facts. Prior to this VTB Bank held 96.88% of Bank of Moscow shares, a 0.13% interest was in the hands of minority shareholders, and the remaining 2.99% stake was held by BVI-registered offshore firm Plenium Invest, business daily Vedomosti wrote.
VTB Bank gained the right to rehabilitate the Bank of Moscow in 2011, at that time former Bank of Moscow president Andrei Borodin was charged with embezzlement of Rub 12.76 bln from Moscow's budget by lending real estate agency Premier Estate. At that time VTB Bank assessed the non-market portion of the Bank of Moscow's credit portfolio at Rub 335 bln, Rub 150 bln of which was lent to offshore SPVs that conducted no economic activities.
However, even after VTB Bank gained control over the Bank of Moscow, Andrei Borodin remained a Bank of Moscow shareholder. In 2011, sources close to the bank said that Borodin's Plenium Invest is the bank's beneficial owner (the offshore company itself denied this in 2012).
It was Borodin's presence on the list of shareholders that prevented VTB Bank from buying the rest of Bank of Moscow shares from minority shareholders, the newspaper specified. In early February 2012 Plenium Invest said that VTB Bank was to make a mandatory offer to buy Plenium shares shortly after the bank acquired 75% of the Bank of Moscow. VTB Bank has bought over a 75% stake in the Bank of Moscow since September 2011, but no mandatory offer was made.
In February 2012, the bank announced a stock buyout offer and specified that the shares will be bought "from individual minority shareholders who are not linked with the bank's former management". This was a voluntary targeted offer, VTB Bank management board member Ekaterina Petelina said at that time, and the bank, in principle, is unwilling to buy shares from former executives (led by Andrei Borodin). Their interest in the Bank of Moscow's capital, as that of individuals, is several thousandth percentage points, the bank's representative specified.
VTB Bank initiated a mandatory offer to buy out Bank of Moscow shares only in November 2015, and the buyout price equaled Rub 589 apiece. When asked how much VTB Bank paid to Andrei Borodin for his interest in the Bank of Moscow, a VTB Bank spokesman answered that "Andrei Borodin and his mates got not a single kopeck". The spokesman declined to comment on anything else.
