Commerzbank is taking a stake and may later buy control of one of Russia's biggest banks, Promsvyazbank, the German lender said on Tuesday. The move gives the Frankfurt-based group its first foothold in the Russian retail banking market and comes after it paid 4.5 billion euros ($5.77 billion) for German mortgage lender Eurohypo late last year.
Germany's second-biggest listed lender said it would initially take about 15 percent of the Russian bank for an undisclosed price and that it was also eying control of the group something a source familiar with the matter said could happen within two years.
Commerzbank's shares slipped slightly, but analysts said this was unrelated to the news, which they welcomed."
"If you look at all the European banks they are all trying to build their presence in Russia," said Michael Rohr, an analyst with Main First. "Commerzbank is taking a pretty big step."
Andrew Keeley, an analyst at Troika Dialog brokerage in Moscow, said the move would give Commerzbank one of the largest distribution networks in Russia and labelled Promsvyazbank, the country's twelfth-biggest bank, as "relatively transparent and well-managed".
A Commerzbank spokesman said: "This bank has a much broader footprint over there than we do." The Russian bank meanwhile said the deal would help in its "further intensive development".
Promsvyazbank, which is controlled by brothers Dmitry and Alexei Ananev, has share capital of about 13.8 billion roubles ($516 million).