Private Equity Russia

PNB has acquired a controlling equity stake in Kazakhstan’s DanaBank JSC.  According to a statement released by the parties, the newly capitalized joint bank will focus on Kazakh SME financing and the agricultural sector.

Terms of the private equity transaction were not disclosed but it is known that Danabank had assets of approximately $20 million at the end of 2009, and was in danger of losing it’s banking license for falling below minimum reserve requirements on its debt portfolio.

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Renaissance Capital announced yesterday that it will be purchasing 100% of the equity of Cyprus’s Leadbank (formerly Bank of Cyprus) for an undisclosed sum.

Leadbank LLC, which was established in April 2007 as Bank Kypra LLC, operated through a single Moscow branch and was basically a shell following Bank of Cyprus’s consolidation of its Russian operations in 2009.  At that point, 100% of the bank’s loan portfolio was sold to 80% Bank of Cyprus subsidiary Uniastrum Bank, which has a network of 220 branches throughout Russia.

According to Bank of Cyprus, the sale will be at a premium to the net asset value of Leadbank LLC, which was around €11.7 million as of December 31, 2009.

The private equity acquisition is still pending approval by the Central Bank of Russia.

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