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by Natasha Doff at 16/02/2012 22:50
The acquisition Wedneday by Russian Sberbank of the international arm of Austria’s Volksbank at a knockdown price does little to compensate for the unattractiveness of the deal, analysts said.
The state-owned Russian bank bought Volksbank subsidiary VBI for $661 million, over $100 million less than the price announced at the signing of the deal in September, the Russian bank said in a statement.
The discount accounts for losses accrued by VBI caused by Hungary’s foreign-currency loan law, Volksbank said in a statement. VBI’s shareholders also injected around $100 million into the unit to cover potential risks associated with a deterioration in local market conditions.
But the discount does little to improve the attractiveness of the deal, analysts say.
“We remain skeptical about the acquisition due to the strong uncertainty over the state of European banks as well as VBI’s ability to generate return on equity at close to the rate of Sberbank’s own business,” the Moscow-based Aton investment bank said in a note to investors on Thursday.
© RIA Novosti. / Григорий Сысоев
Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender
Expansion strategy
The acquisition is part of Sberbank strategy to expand outside of the former Soviet Union and in this respect, it makes some sense. In one swoop and at a relatively low price, Sberbank has gained a foothold on eight countries in Eastern Europe and former Yugoslavia.
“If they had to enter each of these markets separately it would have taken a lot longer,” said Vladimir Savov, a banking analyst at the Moscow-based Otkritie investment bank. “From the point of view of transaction costs, it’s very efficient.”
Sberbank Chief Executive Officer German Gref said at a news conference in Vienna Wednesday that the bank was considering further acquisitions in the same countries, but is in “no rush.”
The deal itself is too small compared to the overall size of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, to have any significant negative effect on the bank, Savov said. However, the asset may require significant volumes of investment in the long-run.
“The acquired bank has had its problems, so making it cleaner, more efficient and more profitable will take time,” Savov told The Mos- cow News. “It’s not immediately obvious that there are clear synergies between their core business here in Russia and what business they can have there.”
Spread too thin?
Svetlana Aslanova, banking analyst at Russia’s second biggest bank, VTB, said that Sberbank may be stretching itself too thin with its expansion plans. Last month, the bank also completed an acquisition of the Moscow-based Troika Dialog Putin and Medvedev drink champagne, not vodka, at public events investment bank, an undertaking which will also require a large volume of administrative work.
“The [VBI] deal will require lots of attention from Sberbank’s management at a time when they also have lots of things on their plate in Russia, including the integration of Troika Dialog and the development of their core business in Russia,” Aslanova said. “The integration processes of the bank will definitely require a lot of management attention.”
Sberbank closed up 0.7 percent to 97.06 rubles in Moscow Wednesday following the announcement of the deal.
Read other articles of the print issue "The Moscow News #11"
© РИА Новости. Кирилл Каллиников
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