Court puts block on sale of Raiffeisen bank’s Russian arm

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A Russian court has blocked any potential sale of Raiffeisen Bank International’s subsidiary in Russia, a move that traps the largest western lender still operating inside the country. 

In a statement on Thursday evening, Vienna-headquartered RBI said a temporary injunction issued by a judge in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast had put a freeze on the transfer of any ownership of shares in its Russian arm. 

It is unclear how long the order will last. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 16. The injunction relates to a civil case brought by companies associated with the oligarch Oleg Deripaska, and a $2.2bn claim for “non-fulfilment of financial obligations”.

“This complicates the sales process in which RBI seeks to sell a controlling stake in [its subsidiary] — and will inevitably lead to further delays,” the bank said. “RBI will attempt to reverse today’s court decision by all legal means.”

The move echoes other recent efforts by powerful Russian businessmen close to the Kremlin to use the country’s court system to exercise control over or seize western businesses that still operate there.

Germany’s Volkswagen had its assets frozen by a Russian court last year in the midst of its own attempted exit from the country. The measure was widely seen as a move to pressure the company into accepting an even lower price for its subsidiary.

RBI has so far operated with relative freedom in Russia, while coming under mounting pressure from western governments and regulators to scale back and divest its business there, even as its profits from it have surged. 

The Austrian bank’s executives have long insisted they have been caught in an intractable situation: on the one hand, threatened by western sanctions because of the role their bank continues to play in supporting the Russian economy, but also unable to advance sales talks because of punitive restrictions imposed by the Kremlin on ownership changes or dividend payments.

Western security officials and politicians, meanwhile, have grown impatient with RBI, particularly as the Russian economy has continued to prove resilient in the face of western economic restrictions. 

In May the European Central Bank ordered RBI and other European lenders still operating in Russia to accelerate efforts to wind down their businesses there if they were unable to sell them.

RBI has previously said it was in discussions with two potential suitors in Russia interested in acquiring its subsidiary there, but that orders for it to scale back its activities have had a negative impact on negotiations.

RBI’s Russian subsidiary nevertheless contributed more than half of the banking group’s total profits in the first six months of this year. 

The bank has dramatically shrunk its Russian lending book and offers economically unattractive returns on savings locally, but it has continued to draw Russian depositors due to it being perceived as a safe western institution. Thanks to the high rates it earns on deposits at the Russian central bank, it has profited handsomely. 

RBI said the court injunction was issued as part of a lawsuit brought by the Russian company Rasperia. Rasperia was formerly owned by Deripaska and continues to be associated with him, according to western security officials. 

Earlier this year Rasperia had attempted to swap its large stake in the Austrian construction company Strabag with RBI in return for control of RBI’s Russian subsidiary, a complicated arrangement intended to skirt western sanctions.

The transaction was called off under pressure from the US government. 

Rasperia on August 19 filed a complaint against Strabag and several other entities, including RBI’s affiliate in Lower Austria and Strabag shareholder and founder Hans Peter Haselsteiner, Kaliningrad court records show.