Eurasian Bank buys Russian lender

business and economy

By SRI ⋅ December 16, 2009 ⋅

(SRI) - Eurasian Bank, Kazakhstan’s tenth largest bank, has bought for an undisclosed sum a banking subsidiary of Troika Dialog, Russia’s oldest brokerage.

The acquisition will enable Eurasian to benefit from the cross-border trade and investment flows between Russia and Kazakhstan, the bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

In October, Eurasian’s new CEO Michael Eggleton said the bank was considering strategic acquisitions in Kazakhstan and overseas. The Troika deal is the first step in the bank’s new strategic expansion strategy.

The acquired bank has shareholder capital of around RUR500 million ($16.64 million) and assets of RUR3.25 billion ($108 billion) by Russian accounting standards as of October 1, according to Troika’s website.

The deal was reportedly signed in Moscow on December 14 and is slated to be completed in the first quarter of 2010, subject to regulatory approvals.

“This marks an important transaction for Eurasian Bank as it expands (its) regional footprint and platform,” Eurasian’s Eggleton was quoted in the bank’s statement.

Eurasian is controlled by key shareholders of London-listed Kazakh mining company Eurasian Natural Resources Corp.

The Kazakh bank repeatedly stated that it would seek to increase its market share in Kazakhstan and become one of the country’s top five banks.