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The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has received for its approval a package of documents from Mr Viktor Prokopenya, who has dual citizenship of from a citizen of Belarus and Cyprus, indicating the intention to acquire a 100% stake in the Russian Sberbank's Ukrainian-based subsidiary, according to the regulator.
Earlier, on March 27, the Russian Sberbank announced the conclusion of an agreement on the sale of a 100% stake in a subsidiary bank in Ukraine to a consortium of investors. Subsequently, the National Bank of Ukraine reported receiving packages of documents from a citizen of the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation, Grigory Guselnikov, for the approval of the intention to acquire a 22.5% stake in Sberbank's subsidiary, and from a citizen of the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation, Said Gutseriev, for buying a 77.5% stake in the bank.
According to the NBU, Prokopenya intends to become the owner of a 100% stake in Sberbank's Ukrainian subsidiary through the Belarusian Paritetbank, while the regulator is currently considering his documents.
Read alsoNBU receives two bids for purchase of Russian VEB's Ukraine subsidiaryAt the same time, the National Bank noted it had not yet completed verification of documents submitted by the previous investors, Mr Guselnikov and Mr Gutseriev.
The NBU has to review the papers within a three-month term, to verify the business reputation of the investors, their financial condition, and the origin of funds.
As UNIAN reported earlier, VP Capital investment company owned by Belarusian IT entrepreneur Viktor Prokopenya began preparations for the acquisition of Russian Sberbank's subsidiary on June 30.
Prokopenya and Gutseriev used to act as co-investors in a number of projects. Prokopenya has a common business with Gutseriev's family who are residents of Great Britain. Their joint projects are implemented in partnership with the investment fund Larnabel Enterprises founded by Gutseriev's family.
On March 16, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a decree bringing into effect the NSDC decision on imposing sanctions for a one-year period in respect of subsidiaries of Russian state-owned banks, namely Sberbank, VS Bank, Prominvestbank, VTB Bank, and BM Bank. The sanctions prohibit any financial transactions involving transfer of funds to parent banks. However, they do not affect payments through these banks to Ukrainians and neither do they prevent additional capitalization and sale of the financial institutions.
UNIAN memo. Russian Sberbank's subsidiary has been operating in Ukraine since 2001, being one of the largest financial institutions in terms of assets. It reported revenue at UAH 44.306 million, or US$1.7 million, in the first quarter of 2017, which was 16.6% down year-over-year.