MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia’s second-largest lender VTB launched book-building on Tuesday for an additional share issue that could raise more than $1.1 billion.
The majority state-owned bank is offering about 1.26 billion ordinary shares at a target price of no more than 73.9 roubles per share in a secondary public offering, meaning it could raise up to 93.4 billion roubles ($1.13 billion) in total.
The share offering, which equates to almost 24% of the overall shares of that type, comes as VTB looks to replenish capital after a period of high interest rates in Russia have driven credit losses.
It is the largest SPO in Russia since 2023, when VTB raised a similar amount.
VTB said it would use the funds raised for general corporate purposes and the additional issue would increase the capital adequacy ratios of the bank and the VTB Group.
“The SPO will contribute to the growth of the bank’s share liquidity and create conditions for increasing their weight in the exchange indices,” VTB said.
The Russian state would not participate in the book-building process and its holding after the sale would not fall below 50% plus one share.
Book-building will run between September 16-18 inclusive, but could be concluded early at the bank’s discretion, with trading in the shares expected to start on September 19.
VTB said it would not publicly offer shares for 180 days after the announcement of the share placement price.
VTB shares on the Moscow Exchange were stable on Tuesday, rising a marginal 0.1% to 74.2 roubles by 11:20 a.m. (0820 GMT). The exchange imposed a short-selling ban on the bank’s shares from September 16 to 18, it said in a statement.
($1 = 82.9000 roubles)
(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya and Ksenia Orlova; Writing by Gleb Stolyarov and Robert Harveye; Editing by David Goodman and Alex Richardson)
