at the request of the regional government

Yesterday, Sverdlovsk Minister of Economy Galina Kovaleva said that the owners of a controlling stake in Sverdlovsk Provincial Bank CJSC (SGK) decided to sell it. The name of the buyer has not been announced, but analysts believe that if the authorities decide to include a controlling stake in SNK in the assets of the Guta group, which are now being transferred to Vneshtorgbank, then it will not be easy to complete the deal.
CJSC Sverdlovsk Provincial Bank is an authorized bank for servicing financial assets of the Sverdlovsk region. According to the bank itself, as of July 1, 2004, the bank's assets amounted to 2.4 billion rubles, liabilities on deposits of individuals - 300 million rubles. The bank issues and services VISA, MasterCard, Union Card. 25% of the bank’s shares belong to MUGISO, 24% to the RFFI, and the controlling stake is owned by the shareholders of the Guta group. According to the Central Bank, this package is managed by three Moscow commercial structures registered at the same address - TACT Company LLC - 19.65%, Style-Invest LLC - 18.77%, SP M-Telecom CJSC - 12 , 47%. Moreover, among the shareholders of these structures are companies affiliated with Guta.

Let us recall that due to the critical situation with Guta Bank (due to liquidity problems, it stopped accepting applications for the return of deposits to depositors), it was decided to sell Guta Bank to the state-owned Vneshtorgbank (VTB). At the same time, Guta’s industrial assets are also transferred along with VTB. The question of the participation of shareholders of the Guta group in the capital of CJSC Sverdlovsk Provincial Bank remained open until recently. It was unclear whether this asset would go to Vneshtorgbank, or whether the owners would try to sell it, or try to keep it. The shareholders themselves did not advertise their actions, and the top management was urgently searching for a new sponsor bank (before that, the Gubernsky Bank conducted operations on international payment systems through Guta Bank processing), and also tried to convince the public that the Guta group had nothing to do with The provincial bank does not have it.
The day before yesterday, late in the evening, the shareholders of CJSC Gubernsky Bank held a meeting at which the fate of the controlling stake was decided. Yesterday, the results of this meeting were announced by the Minister of Economy of the Sverdlovsk Region, Galina Kovaleva (heads the board of directors of the bank. - Kommersant). She stated that Moscow shareholders had decided to sell the shares. According to her, in this way the owners are trying to protect the Gubernsky Bank from the fate of Guta Bank. True, the minister emphasized that the State Security Service has nothing to do with Guta. “These are just rumors,” she said, but refused to name the owners of the SGB stake (see information - Kommersant).
Ms. Kovaleva also avoided answering who is going to buy these shares. “This will be an investor in the Sverdlovsk region,” she said, categorically refusing to name the buyer, citing the incompleteness of the deal. But at the same time, she emphasized that neither the management of the State Security Service, nor any other bank (we recall that the Bank of Moscow expressed a desire to buy a stake in the capital of any Sverdlovsk bank), nor the regional government are considering the issue of purchasing shares. At the same time, she stated that the change of owners will not entail the government transferring budget accounts to another bank.
Ms. Kovaleva's statement raised eyebrows among market participants. In particular, the chairman of the board of the SGB, Alexander Ivanov, said that, according to his information, Moscow shareholders have not yet made a final decision on the sale of their stake in the bank. The Guta group refused to comment on the statement, and the press service of Guta Bank told Kommersant: “It’s too early to talk about anything until the deal with Vneshtorgbank is completed.”
Meanwhile, participants in the banking market found it difficult to name an investor interested in purchasing the bank's shares. The fact is that most industrialists either already have their own credit institutions (UMMC owns the Ring of the Urals bank, the president of the Ekaterinburg Trade and Industrial Company Igor Altushkin owns UBRD, SUAL and Renova control Metkombank - Kommersant), or simply avoid being tied to to a separate bank, preferring to be serviced in several credit structures at once. “TMK, for example, interacts with many financial institutions; we cannot afford to work through a single Sverdlovsk bank,” the Pipe Metallurgical Company told Kommersant.
“This is not the first time Galina Alekseevna (Kovalyova - Kommersant) has announced her idea to sell the Gubernsky Bank to Ural industrialists. Therefore, I do not rule out that the information about the allegedly adopted decision of the bank’s shareholders is the scenario of Galina Alekseevna herself, but nothing more,” said one of the bankers, who wished to remain anonymous. He did not rule out that Guta simply asked the government to find an investor.
At the same time, sources close to the Gubernsky Bank did not rule out that the management itself could buy the stake. This option is also being discussed in banking circles. The shareholders of the Guta group will simply resell it to third parties in order to complicate the return of the stake to Vneshtorgbank in the event of a negative development of the situation. True, Vneshtorgbank itself told Kommersant that the issue of a subsidiary banking business of the Guta group has not yet been considered at all.
MARIA CHERKASOVA, DMITRY VASILIEV

Kommersant (Ekaterinburg) No. 127 from 07/15/2004

Authors:

Maria Cherkasova

Provincial Bank is being sold