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MOSCOW, May 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's state-controlled foreign trade bank Vneshtorgbank (VTB) has collected about 119,000 bids worth 37.7 billion rubles (about $1.46 billion) from Russians for its global share offering, the bank's senior vice-president said Monday.
The global offering, planned for the first half of 2007, comprises an offer of shares to international institutional investors inside and outside Russia, as well as an offer of Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) to foreign investors. VTB is also accepting applications from retail investors in Russia from April 9 through May 8, with the minimum bid price totaling 30,000 rubles (about $1,153).
VTB, Russia's second largest bank in terms of assets and equity, earlier said it would accept bids from Russians from April 9 to May 7 but extended the deadline Monday to May 8 due to high demand from retail investors.
"Demand is very strong," Vasily Titov said.
VTB, which intends to use the proceeds of its global offering largely to support the ongoing expansion of its business, including the expansion of its retail banking operations in Russia, set April 25 the offering's indicative price range at 11.3-13.9 kopeks per share.
The indicative price range is equal to $8.77-$10.79 per GDR, based on the official exchange rate of 25.7760 rubles per U.S. dollar quoted by the Central Bank of Russia for April 25, 2007 and with each GDR representing 2,000 shares, the bank's press office earlier said.
Based on the exchange rate quoted by the Central Bank of Russia for April 25, 2007, the price range reflects an implied market capitalization for VTB of approximately $22,845 million to $28,102 million, prior to taking into account the proceeds of the global offering, the press office said.
VTB intends to list the GDRs on the London Stock Exchange while its shares have been admitted to trading on the "V" lists of the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX) and the Russian Trading System (RTS) under the ticker VTBR, the press office said.
VTB's global offering comprises solely newly issued shares. VTB is currently 99.9% owned by the government of Russia, whose shareholding will drop to no less than 75% plus one share after the global offering.
VTB's share placement follows the share offering by state-run retail savings bank Sberbank.
Sberbank held its domestic rights offering of 3.5 million new shares at 89,000 rubles (about $3,396) per share through open subscription between February 22 and March 24 to raise 230.24 billion rubles (about $8.86 billion) to meet growing demand for loans, the bank's press office earlier said.
Overall, Sberbank placed 2,586,948 shares, or 73.9% of its new share offering, the bank's press office said.
