Businessman Vitaly Yusufov, Bank of Moscow's second largest shareholder, is ready to sell his 19.9 percent interest in the bank to principal shareholder VTB bank, although a price has not yet been agreed, he said on Wednesday.
"I have not yet received any official offers on the terms of the share sale from VTB. There were only verbal requests. I have given preliminary consent verbally, but not yet in writing," Yusufov told reporters.
Bank of Moscow, the capital's investment vehicle under previous Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, was recently taken over by VTB bank after President Dmitry Medvedev fired Luzhkov over a lack of trust last fall.
A recent central bank check revealed a hole in Bank of Moscow's assets and it was granted Russia's largest bailout in the banking sector - 400 billion rubles ($14.30 billion), of which 100 billion rubles will be contributed by VTB.
Last week VTB head Andrei Kostin said VTB agreed to raise its share in Bank of Moscow to 75 percent from 46.5 percent in order to start bailing out the bank, but he did not disclose the seller.
Yusufov said he would not be happy if VTB offered to buy only part of his stake: "I will only talk about selling my full stake."
Yusufov said the price should be calculated on the basis of the Bank of Moscow's average market share price for the last three to six months. One Bank of Moscow share is currently trading at 820 rubles.
Last month local media reported that Bank of Moscow had given Yusufov a $1.1 billion loan to buy the shares from a former chief executive.
