SocGen to sell stakes in Russian holdings to Potanin’s Rosbank

SOCIETE Generale (SocGen) can complete its exit from Russia by selling stakes in some of the country’s largest companies worth an estimated US$75 million to its former local unit, Rosbank PJSC, which it sold to billionaire Vladimir Potanin last year.

President Vladimir Putin approved an order on Sunday to allow Rosbank to buy the Russian stakes from the French bank.

The portfolio includes small stakes in the country’s biggest companies such as natural gas giant Gazprom PJSC, refined nickel producer MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, oil companies Lukoil PJSC and Rosneft PJSC, and 20 other holdings.

Each stake is small, but the total value of the portfolio amounts to at least US$75 million, according to Bloomberg calculations.

A spokesperson for Societe Generale declined to comment.

Potanin, Russia’s richest person, bought Societe Generale’s stake in Rosbank shortly after Russia sent its troops into Ukraine and the French lender sought to exit the country. Later the billionaire was sanctioned by the US and the UK.

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Other international banks like Raiffeisen Bank International still have not found a solution for disposing of their Russian subsidiaries.

In 2022, Potanin’s Interros moved 47.5 per cent of Rosbank’s capital to the billionaire’s charitable foundation, and another 7.5 per cent was transferred to Rosbank employee motivation programme. BLOOMBERG