Sberbank will seek a new buyer for its Ukrainian subsidiary bank since Belarus’ Paritetbank was not acceptable for the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), Sberbank first deputy head Lev Khasis told journalists on the sidelines of the Finopolis 2018 Forum in Sochi.
The NBU again refused to approve Paritetbank’s application to buy Sberbank (Ukraine) in September.
“I think that we will have to look for a new buyer, because the NBU very clearly said that the buyer from Belarus is undesirable for them,” Khasis said.
He said that the Ukrainian regulator explained the reasoning behind its decision.
“They refused because they consider the Belarusian buyer insufficiently “reputable” to approve the deal,” the Sberbank first deputy said.
He said that the Ukrainian bank “is continuing to operate in Ukraine and continues to comply with all regulations.”
“You know that there is currently court proceedings between one of the Ukrainian oligarchs and Russian banks, where he is trying to, in this case, serve his interests through our property. We naturally do not agree with this,” Khasis said.
He said that Sberbank shareholders, among whom 37 percent are U.S. and European investors, “will never agree that they are somehow responsible for the cases this oligarch presents.”
In September the Kyiv Court of Appeals froze the shares of the Ukrainian subsidiaries of Russia’s VTB and Sberbank and Vnesheconombank group’s Prominvestbank (PIB), all based in Kyiv, following action brought by PrivatBank, controlled by Ihor Kolomoisky.
