Russia's VTB sells 19.77% stake in IMB to Bank Austria Creditanstalt

MOSCOW, December 28 (RIA Novosti) - VTB Bank France S.A., a subsidiary of Russia's state-run foreign trade bank Vneshtorgbank, has sold a 19.77% stake in International Moscow Bank (IMB) to Bank Austria Creditanstalt (BA-CA) for $415.3 million, BA-CA said Thursday.

The deal is expected to be finalized by the end of the first quarter of 2007.

Under an agreement signed earlier, BA-CA, which is a member of UniCredit Group, a leading financial group in Europe with a market capitalization of about 70 billion euros (about $92 billion), also intends to acquire a 70.26% stake in IMB, owned by Germany's Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank (HVB), another UniCredit member.

After acquiring the IMB's share packages held by VTB Bank France S.A. and HVB, BA-CA will have a 90.3% stake in International Moscow Bank.

International Moscow Bank, one of Russia's 10-largest banks in terms of assets, was established in October 1989 as the country's first joint-venture bank with foreign participation. Bank Austria Creditanstalt was one of the founders of IMB.

IMB's aggregate assets stood at $7.7 billion as of September 30.

UniCredit has a presence in 20 countries worldwide, with more than 28 million clients and 7,000 branches.