MOSCOW, September 28 (RIA Novosti) - The 2005 state budget will allocate additional $1.31 billion to increase the capital of Vneshtorgbank (VTB), a Russian state-owned bank, Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin said Wednesday.
"We will allocate $1.31 billion to extend VTB's capital which will allow it to buy out the Central Bank's stakes in Russian banks operating abroad," Kudrin said, adding that the move would end the Central Bank's participation in the capital of those banks by the end of 2005.
Kudrin said this sum would be part of a total $4.3billion, which the government planned to spend additionally in 2005.
The Russian government currently holds a 99% stake in Vneshtorgbank.
Alexei Akinshin, Deputy CEO of Vneshtorgbank, said earlier the bank would hold an IPO in the second half of 2006, only after a reliable financial control system was implemented within the group and the balance sheets of the member-banks were consolidated.
The official said the bank planned to hold the IPO in Moscow and then in London, as was proposed by the Federal Financial Markets Service, Russia's executive body that controls and supervises activity in the financial markets.
