VTB hopes to secure regulatory approval to consolidate Pochta Bank by end of Nov, complete deal by year's end

MOSCOW. Oct 28 (Interfax) - State bank VTB expects to receive regulatory approval to buy out Russian Post's stake in Pochta Bank in October-November and the transaction itself should take place before the end of this year, VTB's first deputy CEO, Dmitry Pyanov told reporters.

Pochta Bank, or Post Bank, was established by VTB and Russian Post in 2016 as a retail bank with an extensive regional network based at post offices. VTB and Russian Post now each own 50% minus one share in Pochta Bank, and Pochta Bank CEO Alexander Pakhomov holds the other two shares.

In the summer of this year it was reported that VTB plans to consolidate 100% of shares in Pochta Bank by buying Russian Post's stake. VTB expected to close the deal by the end of 2024 and swallow Pochta Bank in January 2026.

"We firmly intend to complete the buyout of Russian Post's stake before the end of 2024. We have two application processes at the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). The first application is about the acquisition of Russian Post's voting common shares. The second application is a request to the FAS to verify that a draft cooperation agreement between VTB and Russian Post complies with the requirements of the Russian Federation's antimonopoly legislation. Pochta Bank now has a cooperation agreement with Russian Post and we want to transfer it to VTB as the successor after the merger of Pochta Bank and, accordingly, must [...] very this new agreement for antimonopoly legislation," Pyanov said.

VTB has already filed an application with the regulator to acquire the Pochta Bank shares and expects an affirmative decision by the end of October, he said. The second application will be sent at the end of October and there will be a standard 30-day period for receiving a response from the FAS.

"Concurrently, we applied to the Central Bank to receive the Bank of Russia's approval to acquire common shares in Pochta Bank and establish control over it. The application has also been submitted, so we also should get [approval] by the end of October. It will be sent to VTB after the receipt of the FAS's approval of the first application to acquire voting shares in Pochta Bank," Pyanov said.

An independent appraiser valued Pochta Bank at 72 billion rubles for the deal and Russian Post's stake at 36 billion rubles.

"This will essentially expenses from capital. [...] This is not an amount that will be noticeable for our regulatory ratios," Pyanov said when asked how the deal will affect VTB's capital adequacy ratios.

Pochta Bank has a network of 25,000 branches serving 83 Russian regions, most of which are located at post offices, including in small and remote population centers. The bank has an active customer base of 8.6 million.