VTB stopped cooperation with the business of billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who was under sanctions, the bank does not issue new loans to his companies, VTB Chairman Andrey Kostin told CNBC in an interview.
"Of course, we no longer borrow new money for him, we do not conduct any operations with him, with UC Rusal and others [his companies]," Kostin said, answering the question of whether the bank should reconsider relations with Deripaska's business after new sanctions .
"We are waiting for the decision of the Office for Control over Foreign Assets (OFAC - a division of the US Treasury, engaged in sanctions. - RBC). This is what we should do, "Kostin said. Earlier, OFAC announced its readiness to remove sanctions from UC Rusal and En +, if the share of Deripaska in them will fall below 50%.
In VTB, however, "very much hope that the problem will be solved." "Because we are his big creditor, we must get our money and do it anyway," he added.
To clarify the question whether this means that VTB excludes any future cooperation with Deripaska in the future because of the actions of the US Treasury, Kostin replied: "Of course, with the company (Rusal .- RBC), until the sanctions are lifted ".
With respect to other billionaires that have come under US sanctions, VTB CEO has a slightly different position. According to Kostin, "it's very difficult to determine" who will be the next to be sanctioned. "The choice of people - like Deripaska and Vekselberg - has no logic. I do not know why Vekselberg was chosen, but not someone else. In place of Deripaska or Vekselberg could be 200-300 people. We can not stop working with all big businesses in Russia. We will continue until there is a concrete decision, "concluded Costin.
On April 6, the US Finance Ministry announced sanctions against 24 Russians and 14 companies from Russia, including the former president of En + Deripaska, Gazprom's Alexei Miller, Vneshtorgbank's Kostin, Senator Suleiman Kerimov, and the Renova group of directors Viktor Vekselberg.
Due to US sanctions, UC Rusal shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange fell to historic lows. A month after the introduction of sanctions, the company assesses their impact on their business as negative.
Sanctions with UC Rusal and En + can be lifted if Deripaska reduces the share of these companies to below 50%. The billionaire has already left the board of directors of En + and in the near future will reduce its stake in En +, which will also lead to the loss of control over UC Rusal.
VTB's stake in En + Deripaska after the Group's IPO on the London Stock Exchange in November 2017 was 3.8%, another 6.25% was received by the bank under the repurchase agreement. VTB secured this stake on a loan issued to AnAn Group (the structure of the Chinese CEFC), which acquired En + shares for $ 500 million during the IPO.
The Chinese company CEFC recently announced a default on payment obligations, Bloomberg reported. In early May, it became known about the failure of the CEFC transaction to buy a 14.16% stake in Rosneft from Glencore and QIA due to the fact that it was never paid. In early March, it became known that an investigation had been initiated against CEFC chief E Jianming. The total debt of CEFC reached $ 4.8 billion, Bloomberg points out.
A representative of VTB declined to comment on whether the bank continues to service the AnAn Group.