Bank Vostochny is not divided into two

The struggle for ownership of a controlling stake in Vostochny Bank between the main shareholders - the funds of Baring Vostok and Artem Avetisyan - turned into permutations in the top management of the bank.
07.09.2018
Kommersant
Origin source
In the future, a change in the board of directors is not excluded. But, most importantly, the corporate conflict slows the replenishment of the bank's capital at the very moment when the demand for it is particularly high.

The appointment of Vyacheslav Arutyunyan to the post of the head of Vostochny is part of the personnel reshuffle carried out by the co-owner of the bank Artem Avetisyan within the framework of the struggle with the controlling shareholder of Baring Vostok (owns over 51% of shares), two sources close to the credit institution believe. Mr. Harutyunyan is a native of Uniastrum Bank, that is, a man of Artyom Avetisyan. In this post, on September 3, he replaced the Russian Standard Dmitry Levin, who headed Vostochny from the end of 2017. He, according to Kommersant's information, represented the interests of the Baring Vostok funds.

In addition to Mr. Levine, through the board of directors controlled by Artem Avetisyan, the deputy chairman of the board of the Vostochny Bank, Irina Averina, who was in July 2018, was also fired from the bank the other day. She, like Dmitry Levin, previously worked in the bank "Russian Standard". Also, according to one of the interlocutors of "Kommersant", the other day the question arose about the dismissal of the head of internal control of the bank Julia Milovanova. One source also does not rule out that other top managers loyal to the funds may be dismissed from the bank in the near future.

The conflict between the shareholders of Kommersant sources is attributed to the question of the capitalization of the bank, which became one of the priority after Uniastrum-Bank joins Vostochnoye in January 2017. Since early 2018, the bank is trying to conduct an additional issue of shares for 5 billion rubles., But so far, to no avail. According to Kommersant sources, Mr. Avetisyan can not redeem these shares because of a lack of money. One of them points out that Artem Avetisyan lacks about 6-7% to control the bank (formally he owns only 32%, the rest shares are distributed among shareholders with shares less than 5%), but he also has an option, according to which he can to redeem 10% of the bank's shares. Baring Vostok, has the means, but is not ready to increase investments in the bank, which is originally its portfolio investment, the fund has been trying to get out of it for several years (see "Kommersant" on July 23, 2015). However, the redemption of the additional share issue by Baring Vostok funds will further dilute Mr. Avetisyan's share, which will make the option useless, notes one of the interlocutors of Kommersant.

The capital of Vostochny Bank under IFRS decreased in the six months of 2018 by 2.3 billion rubles. and amounted to 21.1 billion rubles. Under RAS, it has grown since the beginning of the year from 37 billion to 37.8 billion rubles. by 1 August. The capital adequacy ratio H1.0 improved over the same period from 9.7% to 10.3%. However, according to Kommersant sources, the situation with the capital was significantly exacerbated by the results of the check, which the Central Bank completed on August 30. The bank needs additional capital, significantly exceeding 5 billion rubles., The source of Kommersant, who is familiar with the results of the audit, says. According to the estimations of the director for bank ratings of Expert RA Vladimir Teterin, against the backdrop of the recovery of profitability indicators (for the first half of 2018 the bank earned about 4 billion rubles, according to IFRS statements), the amount of 5 billion rubles. would allow to strengthen the capital position of the bank, which is now "characterized as sufficiently sensitive." Moody's analyst Pyotr Paklin believes that 5 billion rubles is a significant amount for Vostochny, which will allow him to grow and comply with the standards, taking into account the tougher requirements for capital.

In the future, according to one of the interlocutors of Kommersant, the conflict may result in the fact that the top managers appointed by Artyom Avetisyan will exert pressure on Baring Vostok, and the funds, in turn, will try to deprive Avetisyan of control in the board of directors . The press office of Baring Vostok could not promptly provide Kommersant with a comment, but could not contact Mr. Avetisyan. The press service of Vostochny Bank reported that the bank is not aware of the existence of a conflict between shareholders. Staff changes, indicated in the bank, are associated with a change in the vector - strengthening work on the development of services for small and medium-sized businesses, increasing the portfolio of bank guarantees. Procedures for conducting an additional issue of shares are routinely in accordance with the terms established by law, and the current shareholders are planning to redeem the issue. The issue of electing a new board of directors will indeed be considered at the shareholders 'meeting on October 17, but the new composition will depend on the results of the shareholders' vote, they added to the bank.

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