On September 5, 2024, a Russian court banned any transactions with shares of the Russian division of Raiffeisenbank JSC and imposed an immediate ban on the transfer of shares. This is reported in a press release from the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International.
The court decision further complicates the parent company's efforts to sell Raiffeisenbank shares and will inevitably lead to further delays after RBI's unsuccessful attempts to sell a controlling stake starting in 2022.
The decision is related to a lawsuit initiated by Rasperia Trading, affiliated with billionaire Oleg Deripaska, against the Austrian construction company Strabag SE, its main Austrian shareholders and Raiffeisenbank. At the same time, the RBI is not a party to the conflict.
The companies were part of a complex transaction that provided for the sale by Rasperia of 27.78% of Strabag SE's capital to Russian Raiffeisenbank for 1.51 billion euros ($1.67 billion), followed by the transfer of Strabag shares to RBI holding company in the form of dividends. RBI rejected the deal due to pressure from U.S. regulators.
Rasperia filed a lawsuit with the Arbitration Court of the Kaliningrad Region for the recovery of 195 billion rubles ($2.21 billion), a hearing on which is scheduled for October 16, 2024. The Bank of Russia has been involved in the dispute as a third party. In May 2024, the United States and the EU imposed sanctions against Rasperia and some structures related to the failed deal.
The actual ban on the payment of dividends leads to the accumulation of Raiffeisenbank's profit in the amount of 4.58 billion euros, to which the RBI does not have access. At the same time, profits continue to grow, as the bank offers customers an interest rate on deposits of 0%, and places funds in the Central Bank at a base rate of 18%.
Despite the court decision, RBI will continue to manage the Russian subsidiary and reduce operations in Russia in accordance with the requirement of the European Central Bank to reduce the loan portfolio by 55% by 2026.
In January 2024, RBI considered the sale of Raiffeisenbank as a priority scenario, and in July announced the possibility of selling 60% of the shares of the Russian subsidiary.
Raiffeisenbank is a subsidiary of the Austrian banking group Raiffeisen Bank International. The Bank is one of the systemically important Russian banks and has been operating in Russia since 1996.
Raiffeisen Bank International AG is a key division of the decentralized Raiffeisen banking Group, acting both as a central financial institution for operations in Austria and as a holding company for all operations outside Austria. The bank is registered on the Wiener Börse stock exchange. The main shareholders are eight regional banks of the Raiffeisen-Landesbanken banking group, which are bound by a shareholder agreement and together own the majority of RBI shares. The headquarters is located in Vienna (Austria) with offices in 14 countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
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