ABH Holdings S.A.’s (ABHH) non-binding agreement with an international investor to sell 75.6% of Sense Bank (Kiev, formerly Alfa-Bank) implies a sale price of $1.
“The proposed transaction value in acquiring all 75.6% of Sense Bank is a nominal amount equivalent to $1,” the holding said on its website Monday.
ABHH reiterates that the proposed sale of the Ukrainian bank to an international investor does not include any payments to sanctioned shareholders.
“On April 26, 2022, the Board of Directors of ABHH decided not to declare, pay or provide any dividends, distributions or any other funds to its sanctioned shareholders,” the release states.
According to it, the main purpose of the search for an investor to whom control of Sense Bank could be transferred is to reduce the share of the sanctioned ultimate beneficial owners to a level that would meet the requirements of Ukraine.
ABHH recalls that in the autumn of 2022 a shareholders’ letter was sent to the National Bank of Ukraine stating its willingness to transfer the bank to state ownership free of charge and voluntarily in case of such a decision by the regulators, but since no response to this letter was received, ABHH continued its search for an experienced and reliable investor.
As of the beginning of May this year Sense Bank ranked 10th among 65 operating banks in Ukraine with assets of 97.19 bln hryvnia.
The controlling stake in the bank is owned by sub-sanctioned Russians Andrei Kosogov, Mikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven, although the minority shareholders in ABH Holdings S.A. are Unicredit S.p.a. – 9.9% and The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research – 3.8736%.
Back in April 2022, the NBU appointed former Bulgarian Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov as a proxy, to whom was given the right to vote on the shares indirectly owned by the sub-sanctioned owners of Sense Bank (a total of 88.2264%), as well as the right to participate in the management of the bank.
At the end of May, the Verkhovna Rada passed a law that envisages nationalization of Sense Bank as a systemic bank on the basis of the presence of subsanctioned persons among its main shareholders. The law was sent to the president for signature on June 5 and has not yet entered into force. According to ABHH, the law implies a complicated nationalization procedure and creates legal risks for future investors, while leaving the bank in private ownership by selling its shares would be a better solution.
According to the agency, the investor is one of Poland’s richest men, Zygmunt Solozh, co-owner of Grupa Polsat Plus corporation. This week, the publication Ekonomika Pravda reported that documents to the National Bank filed Cypriot Karswell Ltd, the nominal owner of 43.75% of the shares of the Polish bank Plus Bank SA.
The NBU in its communications until today did not admit the possibility of agreeing a deal on the sale of the bank.
