The Russian central bank allowed Bonum Capital, a fund affiliated with Russian businessman Suleiman Kerimov, to acquire a 52.7% stake in Vozrozhdenie Bank, Kommersant reported March 15, citing market sources.
The deal could be officially announced March 19, according to the newspaper. Bonum Capital had earlier confirmed its interest in the lender, saying that it in principle agreed to acquire Vozrozhdenie from its owners and was conducting due diligence to determine the final details of the deal.
Dmitry and Aleksey Ananiev, who controlled Vozrozhdenie via Promsvyaz Capital, were forced to put up their stake for sale after their other lender, PAO Promsvyazbank, was bailed out by the central bank in December. Since then various ownership structure changes took place at Vozrozhdenie, but the lender remained under the control of Dmitry Ananiev.
The purchase of Vozrozhdenie stake by Bonum Capital could be a non-cash deal because of existing obligations of the lender's owners to entities owned by Kerimov, Reuters said in February. According to Kommersant, Bonum Capital may not be the ultimate buyer of the shares, and could re-sell them to Russian businessman Vladimir Kogan, who controls PJSC BANK URALSIB.
Meanwhile, Vozrozhdenie Bank said March 16 that Bonum Capital's board of directors head Murat Aliev was named chairman of the board of directors at the bank. Following recent appointments, representatives of Bonum Capital hold two thirds of the seats in Vozrozhdenie's board of directors, according to Russian media outlets.
