Raiffeisen Bank plans to withdraw assets from russia: Deripaska may benefit

Raiffeisen Bank international AG plans to withdraw some of its assets from russia through complex transactions, which will benefit russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

Raiffeisen reported that its russian unit has agreed to buy almost 28% of the shares of the Austrian construction company Strabag SE, which until recently belonged to the sanctioned businessman Oleg Deripaska. He then plans to transfer the holding to the parent company in Vienna in the form of dividends in kind.

The deal will help solve a headache for Raiffeisen, which has been considering options for selling or spinning off its russian subsidiary, which is the bank's most profitable, for almost two years in vain. Due to Moscow's restrictions on dividend payments, the business has accumulated more than €3 billion in profits that it cannot transfer. 

If successful, the bank should return half of the €3 billion to the parent company.

The bank is trying to find ways to resolve its problems with minimal consequences for all parties, but it seems that if all transactions are successful, Deripaska will have the opportunity to liquidate his stake in the bank.

Source: Bloomberg