Russia's VTB bank to raise up to $1 billion in SPO

By Elena Fabrichnaya

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's second-largest lender, VTB, said on Friday it planned to raise up to 84.7 billion roubles ($1.02 billion) in its latest additional share issue, pricing the placement at 67 roubles per share.

The bank decided to place 1.264 billion ordinary shares, which equates to nearly 24% of the overall shares of that type, in a secondary public offering (SPO), marking the largest equity market transaction in Russia since 2023 when VTB raised a similar amount.

The amount raised is at the lower end of VTB's target range of 80 billion to 100 billion roubles, as the lender seeks to boost its capital adequacy ratio.

The placement price reflects a 7% discount to the maximum price of 71.9 roubles set at the close of the book-building process, upon which VTB had promised investors a discount. The 7% discount aligns with analysts' expectations of 5% to 10%.

"The placement below market value naturally puts pressure on share prices," analysts at brokerage Tsifra said. "However, for the bank itself, this is a step towards increasing stability and capital."

VTB shares were down 1.6% at 12:07 p.m. local time (0907 GMT) on Friday, trading at 70.64 roubles.

Fund manager Sergey Pirogov of Heroi Asset Management described the pricing as "good for investors, unfavourable for shareholders."

The SPO will reduce the Russian state's controlling stake to 50% plus one share, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev said, leaving more than 49% of ordinary shares in free float.

The exact number of shares sold will be disclosed after payments are completed.

Retail investors were allocated about 41% of the offering, while institutional investors took 59%.

The book-building process ran from Tuesday to Thursday, with VTB reporting interest exceeding 180 billion roubles from retail and institutional investors.

VTB said the transaction highlights the potential for raising capital on the domestic stock market based solely on demand from Russian investors.

($1 = 83.1500 roubles)

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Robert Harvey; Editing by Joe Bavier)