Photo from UNIAN
Sberbank Europe AG (a subsidiary of Russian Sberbank) has completed a deal to sell a controlling stake (99.9230%) in Russian Sberbank's Ukrainian subsidiary VS Bank, based in Lviv, to the TAS group owned by Ukrainian businessman Sergiy Tigipko, according to the press service of the Russian bank.
The report notes that the transaction was approved by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, the National Bank of Ukraine, and the European Central Bank.
"Sberbank is carrying out the transaction in the framework of the strategy for the withdrawal from the banking market of Ukraine," the report says.
As UNIAN reported earlier, in early November, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) allowed Ukrainian businessman Sergiy Tigipko to buy a 99.9% stake in Russian Sberbank's Ukrainian subsidiary VS Bank, based in Lviv.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine in late September allowed Tigipko, who also controls TAScombank and Universal Bank in Ukraine, to acquire VS Bank's shares.
Subsequently, Tigipko said he planned to merge VS Bank and TAScombank without shutting down the financial institutions' branches.
UNIAN memo. Lviv-based VS Bank has been operating on the Ukrainian market since 1991. It belongs to Russia's state-run Sberbank.
Tigipko held senior positions during Viktor Yanukovych's presidency. Among them were the posts of deputy prime minister and minister of social policy in Mykola Azarov's government. He also served as central bank governor in 2003-2004.