RS Brief news Large Russian banks are buying up assets in Central and Eastern Europe

Large Russian banks are buying up assets in Central and Eastern Europe

December 2011

Russian experts say that at the moment there are good opportunities to buy assets in Europe at very reasonable prices, but competing in Europe is tough. So far Russian banks have only had more or less adequate representation in the CIS.

The Savings Bank of Russia has signed an agreement to buy a 100% interest in Austria’s Volkbank International. This deal is to be closed by the end of this year but not later than February 15th, 2012.

Russia’s second largest bank in terms of assets (after the Savings Bank) VTB also earlier stated it was interested in Eastern European assets.

At the moment the Savings Bank of Russia is considering buying the Turkish DenizBank valued at USD 3.12 billion on Istanbul Stock Exchange and whose total assets are valued at USD 21 billion.

By looking to invest in Central and Eastern Europe the Russian banks are trying to find new markets for their excessive and cheap liabilities as well as to hold on to corporate customers by offering them more trading services.

The Russian banks’ drive to Europe is headed by the Savings Bank of Russia, VTB, Rosbank, Promsvyazbank, and Alpha-bank. As a rule, the first on the agenda of their European strategy plan are countries like Cyprus, Poland, Austria and Serbia.