Viktor Pinchuk rumored to be seeking buyer for 93-percent share in top Ukrainian bank
Ukrainian tycoon and parliamentary deputy Viktor Pinchuk is close to selling a controlling stake in Ukrsotsbank, one of Ukraine’s five largest banks in terms of net assets and branch network size.
Informed sources told the Post that the bidding process is winding up and should be completed within two months. The deadline for bids is in February, said one source.
Interested buyers mainly include Western banking conglomerates, though a large Russian banking group has expressed interest.
If sold to a Western banking group, Ukrsotsbank would be the third of Ukraine’s top five banks to be sold to Western interests in the last six months.
Ukrainian businessmen have in recent months sold majority interests in Aval Bank and Ukrsibbank to western banking conglomerates. Aval was bought by Austria’s Raiffeisenbank International Bank-Holding AG for just over $1 billion. A 51 percent share in Ukrsibbank was estimated to have sold for more than $500 million to France’s BNP Paribas S.A.
Western banking groups that have been eyeing Ukrsotsbank include France’s Societe General, Banca Intesa and Unicredito of Italy, Erste Bank of Austria, Germany’s Commerzbank and Hungary’s OTP Bank. An informed source told the Post that a handful of the top Western banks have dropped out of the bidding process for various reasons.
Russia’s Alfa Bank was last year reported to be interested in acquiring Ukrsotsbank, yet insiders say they have since lost interest, as the asking price has risen to more than $1 billion. Insiders say that interest from Erste dropped after the Austrian bank acquired a majority share in a Romanian bank last December for 3.75 billion euros ($4.5 billion).
Ukrsotsbank officials declined to comment on the proposed sale.
Aval, Ukrsibbank and Ukrsotsbank account for about 20 percent of the total net assets in Ukraine’s banking sector. All three also have large branch networks, making them valuable acquisitions for Western banking group’s eyeing a piece of Ukraine’s promising retail banking business.
One insider said that Ukrsotsbank should sell for at least $1 billion, considering that it is the last of the top-five big banks being offered up for sale in the near term.
The remaining big Ukrainian banks are either state-owned or have owners uninterested in selling.Last September, Ukrsotsbank’s supervisory board chairman Ihor Yushko told journalists that as many as 15 banks from the West, Russia and the Middle East were inquiring about the purchase of the bank. Documents obtained by the Post indicate that Pinchuk, son-in-law of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, is the beneficiary shareholder of 93 percent of Ukrsotsbank’s shares. Pinchuk acquired control of the bank in July 2004 from former Economy Minister Valery Khoroshkovsky, according to the documents.
