Moscow: Russia's biggest lender Sberbank said the government could start its privatisation in the second half 2011, but sees Europe's fiscal woes as a potential risk for the share price, the bank's CEO told Reuters.
German Gref, 46, said Sberbank has not yet started talks with potential buyers of the 7.6 per cent stake the government is putting up for sale, and was not planning specific negotiations on this at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.
Sale
"Technically it [the sale] can maybe be done in the second half of this year. The best option is to sell the stake within a year, but it could be during this year and the first half next year," he said.
Apart from Sberbank, Russia's three-year $32-billion (Dh117.52 billion) state asset sale drive includes the disposal of 35.5 per cent in VTB, leaving the government with 50 per cent in each of the country's two top banks.
Expansion
Based on current market valuations, the bank stakes together would be worth almost $20 billion — equal to around a third of the federal budget deficit for last year. Gref, a former economic minister under then-President Vladimir Putin in 2000-2007, said the government should expand the asset sale to include all the state banks, excluding Russia's state investment vehicle VEB.
