88278005 Russia VTB to sell part of the Italians
Italian insurance group Generali intends to become a major strategic investor in the purchase of state-owned bank VTB. Vedomosti said that Generali would buy less than half the 10-percent package, through the sale of which the Russian government hopes to fetch at least 3.5 billion dollars. The transaction is expected in February 2011. Privatization of 10 percent of VTB was scheduled for 2010. It was assumed that the buyer shares may be a pool of investors led by U.S. investment fund TPG, but now the conditions of sale have changed. In this edition of the sources claim that TPG can do to stop participating in the transaction. In the Russian market in Generali is only insurance assets. But the Czech group PPF, Russia's main asset is a partner Generali in Russia, controls retail "Home Credit and Finance Bank". February 2 at the forum, "Troika Dialog" Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that in 2011 the government plans to sell 20 percent stake in VTB. But the newspaper Vedomosti writes that this will only happen if the State Bank does not have enough money to buy Bank of Moscow.
