Otkritie Holding JSC's unit Otkritie Investments Cyprus Ltd. purchased 9.77% of the class B shares of QIWI plc, which provides payment services in Russia, increasing its stake in the company to 21.73%, equivalent to 4.9% of voting rights in it, Vedomosti reported Dec. 6.
The unit paid 4.1 billion Russian rubles for the shares, which were purchased Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
The two companies had tried to increase the holding in Qiwi in June, but their offer to purchase 55% of the company's class B shares failed at the time, Vedomosti noted.
Otkritie Financial Corp. Bank, which was controlled by Otkritie Holding prior to its August bailout by the Russian central bank, owns 23.9% of Qiwi's class B shares, according to the newspaper. Qiwi CEO Sergey Solonin said in October that negotiations were underway to increase the share of Otkritie Bank in the payment services provider.
As of Dec. 5, US$1 was equivalent to 58.72 Russian rubles.
