Отправлено 31 May 2007 - 16:46
Raiffeisen International is looking to acquire one of Kazakhstan's top five banks, the bank's chief executive Herbert Stepic said.
Speaking to this news service during the EBRD annual meeting in the Russian city of Kazan, Stepic said that RZB remains extremely interested in acquiring one of the five major banks in the central Asian republic of Kazakhstan.
He said that all the five major banks remain interesting except for Turan Alem, the Kazakh bank which RI recently sold its minority stake in after it was clear that the Austrian listed bank could not acquire the bank.
Stepic said that the bank remains in discussions with "practically all" the banks operating in the country, and that the discussions are taking place on a continuous basis. Stepic also said that "it is only a question of time" before Raiffeisen International acquires a bank in Kazakhstan, but he stressed that this will only happen when political developments reach such a stage where a foreign strategic investor is "welcomed" by the country.
A Kazakhstan banking source said that one of the foreign players, such as Raiffeisen, is likely to complete a deal by the year end. He also named ATF and Alliance bank as the most attractive possible targets. A source at Alliance said that the shareholders are to make a decision to sell to a strategic buyer or to list sometime in June. ATF told this news wire at the beginning of the year that it was planning a listing in London.
Other top five banks include Kazkommertsbank, which raised USD 846m for 42% of its stock with a London GDR listing in November 2006, and Halyk Bank, the institution with Kazakhstan's biggest branch network. Halyk raised USD 785m with an LSE GDR listing in December 2006.
Stepic said that Raiffeisen International, following the acquisition of Impexbank, will now focus on the strong organic growth opportunities it sees for the Russian market. He gave the example of Kazan as a city in which "20 retail branches could easily be opened." He noted, however, that Raiffeisen will continue to scour the market for potential acquisition opportunities, and did not discount doing one if an opportunity was to present itself. However, Stepic also said that in the opinion of the bank, the Russian banking sector would see widespread consolidation in the medium-term. Stepic said that he expects the 1,350 banks which currently exist in Russia to consolidate to between 600 and 800 by 2014. He said the small banks in the country do not have the necessary required scale and will be forced to consolidate.
Stepic added that the other type of banks which he believed will be bought are the ones that are currently part of big industrial groups. He said that banking is not the core activity of these banks and that as a result they have no viable strategy. He said that these banks are "desperate" for a strategic investor to come in and buy them. Stepic gave the example of Impexbank - the Russian bank that RI bought - as a very good example of a none-core divestment.
However, Stepic also said that the bank does not see any of the 15 largest Russian banks being bought by a foreign strategic investor. He said that he could not see this happening without the political blessing of the Russian authorities, and that the privatization of these is becoming "increasingly unpopular." Stepic said that he saw state and quasi-state banks continuing to dominate the Russian banking landscape.
Stepic said that Raiffeisen is very interested throughout Russia and the CIS region, but noted that the bank would only enter a country in favourable economic conditions. He said that RI would only invest in a country where the governing authority was "very welcoming" and which was overtly open to a foreign strategic investor taking over one of its banks.
RI at present is the number six bank on the Russian market. The company, which is listed on the Wiener Boerse, has a market capitalisation of EUR 15bn.