On the way to the market

Gazprombank will have three independent directors

Gazprombank, whose plans include an IPO in 2008, intends to attract independent participants to the board of directors. This is stated in the investment memorandum for the issue of three-year Eurobonds, the placement of which will take place before the end of this week. It is not yet clear who exactly Gazprombank will call to the council, but there is little doubt that these will be very well-known businessmen. Last week, VTB, which is also going to conduct an initial public offering, has already invited the managing director of the Nord Stream consortium, a member of the board of directors of the Russian subsidiary of Dresdner Bank, Matthias Warnig, and the president of the administrative board of the French construction group VINCI, Yves-Thibault de Silguy. It is noteworthy that Mr. Warnig was previously more associated with Gazprombank than with VTB. For example, one of the organizers of the current placement is the investment division of Dresdner Kleinwort. In addition, last year Dresdner Bank almost became a co-owner of Gazprombank, but the additional issue was eventually purchased by NPF Gazfond, which subsequently became the main shareholder of the credit institution (it owns 49.98%).

The memorandum states that the change in the structure of the bank's shareholders will be reflected in the management bodies. Thus, by the end of the year, two more representatives will appear on the board of directors of Gazprombank - from Gazfond and its management company, Management Company Leader. In the meantime, the bank’s board of directors is represented only by the heads of Gazprom OJSC (seven out of nine people), as well as the bank’s chairman of the board Andrei Akimov and former Gazprom top manager Alexander Krasnenkov.

Let us note that now the majority of votes on the Gazfond board are controlled by top managers of SOGAZ, an insurance company that Gazprom sold to the structures of Rossiya Bank two years ago . Thus, we can assume that the controlling stake in Gazprombank no longer belongs to a company that is part of the Gazprom group. The investment memorandum itself speaks of Gazfond and Leader only as structures close to the gas holding. Investors are not offered more detailed information about these structures - much more information can be found about Gazprom. Apparently, because for market participants the bank is primarily associated with a gas holding company; moreover, even the appearance of external shareholders in connection with the IPO should not significantly complicate the bank’s relations with Gazprom, between which a strategic partnership agreement has been signed for the next ten years. And although the terms of the placement are still unknown, most likely, Gazprombank’s securities will be in demand by investors who have very willingly bought bonds of this issuer before. For example, for the latest issue of Eurobonds denominated in rubles, the demand for securities exceeded the placement volume by one and a half times. And the rate was 7.25% per annum.

Ivan GORDEEV