Russian bank VTB to create agriculture giant from nationalised assets, CEO says

MOSCOW, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Russian's second-largest bank VTB plans to create a large agricultural holding from nationalized assets it had bought in the southern regions in December 2024, VTB's CEO Andrei Kostin told Reuters.

He said the new holding will focus on domestic processing of grains and other agricultural products and suggested that the company could be sold at a later stage.

"After all, we should develop high value-added products, not only processing oil but possibly grain as well," Kostinm said.

The assets were nationalised in 2023 after an arrest warrant was issued for its former owner Andrei Korovaiko, and his business partner, Arkady Chebanov, who were accused of corruption. Both are now living abroad.

The assets have been consolidated into a company, called Agrocomplex Labinski.

Labinski owns 240,000 hectares of land, producing grains, milk, sugar, and other agricultural products. The company says that it exports up to 400,000 metric tons of grains and oilseeds annually.

(Reporting by Elena Favrichnaya and Gleb BryanskiEditing by Bernadette Baum)