PAO Sberbank of Russia CEO Herman Gref said May 23 that the government-controlled lender is looking to reduce its operations in Europe, Reuters reported.
Gref's comment comes after Sberbank agreed to sell Turkish unit DenizBank AS to Dubai-based Emirates NBD Bank PJSC. He said DenizBank would not have been sold had Russia not been hit by Western sanctions, the report added.
Emirates NBD will buy 99.85% of DenizBank for a consideration of 14.6 billion lira. Gref reportedly said the sale would be completed either at the end of the third quarter or in the fourth quarter.
A source close to Gref told the Financial Times on May 22 that Sberbank is looking to off-load the entirety of its non-Russian operations with the exception of units in Belarus and Kazakhstan. Most of its European operations are grouped under Sberbank Europe AG.
As of May 22, US$1 was equivalent to 4.65 Turkish lira.
