MINSK, 10 January (BelTA) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) expects to complete the transaction to buy a stake in Belinvestbank in H1 2019, head of the EBRD representative office in Belarus Alexander Pivovarsky told the media, BelTA has learned.
“We hope to conclude the negotiations in H1. The main talks are yet ahead, therefore we cannot now reveal the details,” Alexander Pivovarsky said.
According to him, the main task of the transaction is to beef up the bank to attract a strategic investor in the future.
Due diligence done, the commercial and other matters are currently under discussion. The EBRD expects that the shares will be offered at a fair price. “We really appreciate the work of the Belarusian side, the quality of the negotiations,” he noted.
In 2019, the EBRD intends to expand lending in Belarusian rubles. Thus, companies can take out loans with longer maturities in local currency which will reduce the risks related to the exchange rate fluctuations. Priorbank ($15 million in equivalent), MTBank and BNB Bank ($10 million each) already joined the EBRD program on lending in local currency in Belarus in 2018.
The EBRD is an international bank, which facilitates the development of the private sector and entrepreneurship initiative in 38 economies on three continents. The EBRD shareholders include 67 countries, the European Union, and the European Investment Bank. Since the EBRD began working in Belarus in 1992, the bank has invested over €2.4 billion in 115 projects in various branches of the national economy.
