business and economy
BTA to start detailed sale talks with Sberbank in April
(SRI) - Samruk-Kazyna, the state holding and investment company, plans to hold detailed talks on selling BTA Bank to Russia’s Sberbank in the second quarter, once the bank secures a restructuring deal with creditors.
“By the end of January we plan to sign the full cycle of legal documents on those agreements with all creditors and by April 1 we hope to have a full creditors’ meeting to define their views on the documents,” the head of Samruk-Kazyna, Kairat Kelimbetov, told reporters on the sidelines of an economic conference in Moscow. “After that - in the second quarter - we will have the active phase of negotiations with Sberbank.” Preliminary talks are scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Following the successful restructuring of BTA’s $10 billion in debt, Samruk-Kazyna is expected to own about 85 percent of the bank. Its current creditors would control the remaining 15 percent.
Kelimbetov said that Samruk-Kazyna is ready to sell its entire stake to Sberbank but declined to speculate what the price tag of the deal could be. “It is too early to talk about this as it depends on how successful and swift the talks will be with creditors,” he said.
State-owned Sberbank is Russia’s largest bank and has shown interest in acquiring a significant stake in BTA since the state takeover of the bank in February of 2008. According to Kelimbetov, there have been no other serious suitors.
Restructuring
BTA, once Kazakhstan’s largest bank with global ambitions, defaulted on its debt in May and became the first of four Kazakh lenders to default in 2008. Alliance Bank, formerly the fourth largest bank, already reached an agreement to restructure its $4-billion debt, while Astana Finance and Temirbank are still in talks with creditors.
In December, BTA announced it reached a deal to restructure its outstanding debt worth reportedly $5.57 billion, or 48 percent of outstanding principal and interest. BTA plans to pay about $1 billion in cash to the creditors and issue $2.3 billion of new senior debt and about $797 million of subordinated debt, according to the agreement.
The bank hopes to sign legal documents with creditors by the end of January and finalize the restructuring in April, Kelimbetov told reporters.
Economists, including the International Monetary Fund and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, say sorting out problems at BTA and other banks is key to securing the recovery of Kazakhstan’s economy, which has already shown positive signs on the back of rising oil prices.
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S/K HAS STILL TO MAKE CLEAR ITS POSTION ON
BOND HOLDERS SPECIFICALLY
PERPETUAL NOTES WHICH R SUPPOSED TO
CONVERT TO SHARES..S/K SHUD
COME FORWARD WIHT DTLS FOR THE SAKE OF COUNTRY’S FISCAL POSTN AS IT NOW NEEDS TO
ISSUE SOVEREIGN BONDS
RGDS
SAM/SATHIT
VIKINGS RESEARCH
INVESTMENTS GURU
__Government securities must be used to replace government owned bank bonds. The international community of BTA bond holders who had faith in the people and government must be protected so as to insure the financial credibility and dynamic growth of a greater Kazakhstan.