The government of Belarus has considered preliminary and indicative conditions of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) concerning the EBRD’s plans to become a shareholder in OAO Belinvestbank, representatives of the State Property Committee of Belarus told journalists.
The source noted that an overwhelming majority of these conditions takes into account exclusively interests of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The EBRD estimates the value of OAO Belinvestbank’s capital at Br251 million. According to a Belarusian estimate, the market value of all the Belinvestbank shares stood at Br680.3 million as of 1 January.
In early March 2019 EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti confirmed the bank’s intention to become a shareholder in OAO Belinvestbank after meeting with the Belarus president. On 10 January 2019 the head of the EBRD representative office in Belarus Alexander Pivovarsky told media that the EBRD expects to finish the deal to become a shareholder of the Belarusian bank in H1 2019. The main goal of the deal is to increase the bank’s value in order to attract a strategic investor later on.
The public joint-stock company (OAO) Belinvestbank is one of the largest backbone banks in the Republic of Belarus. It is one of the country’s top six banks in terms of the volume of assets and the resource (client) base. Since 2015 the bank has been implementing an institutional development program designed to improve the bank’s performance and commercialization. The program is being implemented with assistance of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
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. The EBRD channels investments into creating competitive economies in its regions, including well-managed, environmentally conscious, sustainable, and multisectoral economies.
