State-ownedstake in PJSCTatfondbank increased to 35% from 28% after JSC Tatspirtprom, acompany indirectly controlled by Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, purchased 100million ordinary shares of the lender from its existing shareholders.

Theshares were purchased by the company for 1 billion Russian rubles, or 10 rublesapiece, the bank said July 22.

Earlierin July, the lender completed a 1.5 billion ruble capital hike as part ofits strategy to pursue an 8 billion ruble capital boost.

JSCTatspirtprom is fully owned by investment company JSC Svyazinvestneftekhim, thesole shareholder of which is the Republic of Tatarstan.

As of July 22, US$1 wasequivalent to 64.79 Russian rubles.