By Svetlana Kovalyova
MOSCOW, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The supervisory council of Russia's troubled
Tokobank is considering holding a tender to choose a strategic investor, the
head of the council said on Monday.
Boris Guzanov told Reuters that two Russian banks -- MENATEP <MNTP.MM> and
UNEXIMBank -- had expressed readiness to become Tokobank's strategic investor
and get it back on its feet.
A little-known state investment company, Gosinvest, was also interested and
other potential bidders could emerge, he added.
"We had an idea that if UNEXIMBank and Gosinvest presented more detailed
plans, maybe by September 2 we would prepare a tender to choose an investor,"
Guzanov said.
MENATEP has already proposed a rescue plan for Tokobank, which has been
placed under temporary administration by the Russian central bank due to
liquidity and management problems.
Tokobank's supervisory council agreed to discuss details of the plan on
September 2.
The council agreed in principle to transfer a controlling stake to MENATEP
without a tender, if it carried out negotiations with creditors on restructuring
Tokobank's debt and agreed a rescue plan with the council. But a senior MENATEP
official said the terms were difficult to meet.
The central bank had prolonged the temporary administration period until
September 1 from August 1, Guzanov said.
The supervisory council was waiting for all investors to present their
rescue plans, without specifying why the council wanted to see the plans before
it announced the terms of the tender, he said.
Terms for the tender would be worked out by the council, the temporary
administration and the central bank, he added.
"If the tender takes place, it will be carried out by these three parties,"
Guzanov said.
Bank Moskvy (Bank of Moscow) had expressed a wish to invest in Tokobank and
get a controlling stake, but later dropped the plans after it found out that
real investment requirements were higher than originally expected.
((Moscow Newsroom +7095 941-8520, moscow.newsroom@reuters.com))
Comments