MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti) - Sberbank (RTS: SBER) will consider upping the par value of its shares in a bid to increase its authorized capital 60 times, to 60 bln rubles (about $2 bln), a deputy board chairman said Wednesday.
"By increasing the par value of shares, the bank's authorized capital will amount to 60 billion rubles," Bella Zlatkis said.
The decision will be made at the bank's shareholders meeting on June 16.
Zlatkis said the increase was crucial for expansion.
"With our current authorized capital, we are unable to issue ruble bonds or participate in various competitive projects," she said.
The Russian state-owned savings bank said in mid-May that its net profits had increased 260% year on year in 2005, to 65.808 billion rubles ($2.4 billion).
As of December 31, Sberbank's assets stood at 2.531 trillion rubles ($93.7 billion), up 30.7% year on year. Shareholder equity grew 50.7% to 231.069 billion rubles ($8.5 billion) in the year.
The Central Bank of Russia holds more than 60% of shares in the bank, with the remainder distributed among over 200,000 legal entities and individuals.
