MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) - The Central Bank of Russia will reduce its stake in Sberbank to 55.34% after the state-run retail savings bank holds an additional share issue, the government's press office said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov signed a relevant resolution Wednesday on the additional share issue of Sberbank's common stock.
Sberbank is Russia's largest household savings bank, with 60.57% of its shares currently controlled by the Central Bank. Sberbank's branch network includes 17 regional banks, 840 branches and 19,198 internal divisions.
The government also agreed with the CBR's proposal that the Central Bank purchase 892,601 ordinary shares from Sberbank's additional share issue to exercise its priority right to the stock intended to be placed via open subscription, the press office said.
Sberbank's additional share issue is worth 10.5 billion rubles (about $396 million) at par. Russia's largest household savings bank plans to place 3.5 million shares, with a face value of 3,000 rubles (about $113) each.
Shares will be placed only via open subscription on the Russian market. Private individuals will also be able to purchase Sberbank's additional stock.
Following the additional share issue, Sberbank's charter capital will grow to 70.5 billion rubles (about $2.7 billion) from the current level of 60 billion rubles (about $2.3 billion) and will consist of 22.5 million ordinary shares with a par value of 3,000 rubles (about $113) each and 50 million preferred shares with a face value of 60 rubles (about $2.3) each.
The permitted volume for the Central Bank to purchase Sberbank's additional share issue is about 40% of the amount of the stock, which the CBR may purchase by law (2,231,502 shares).
