The media spoke about the advanced stage of the transition to the sale of Siemens subsidiary in Russia
Siemens is discussing the sale of its leasing subsidiary in Russia, Siemens Finance, especially located at an advanced stage, allocated Frank Media four sources on the financial market.
According to the interlocutors of Frank Media, there are two main contenders for the asset. These are the Expobank of entrepreneur Igor Kim and the Insight group of companies that the top managers of the SFI investment holding, controlled by businessman Sai Gutseriev, led by Avet Mirakyan, would demand, two sources told Frank Media – one is close to resonance, others are aware of this concentration of transactions . The third bidder also spoke of Insight representing the interests of the second bidder, described as “a large financial group with no leasing business of its own.” The fourth source on Expobank’s interest in Siemens Finance.
Expobank rescue from Frank Media comments, with “Insight”
Siemens announced in mid-May that it would stop working in Russia and has already begun to curtail its activities. The company attributed the decision to a “special military operation”* that Russia was conducting in Ukraine. In March, the head of Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, said that Siemens had suspended the contract for the supply of new Sapsan high-speed trains to Russia. Deputy Prime Minister – Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov called Siemens’ decision to leave the Russian market unexpected and strange.
Expobank was in the middle of a major acquisition of Citibank’s Russian retail business, according to Frank Media and the Financial Times. In July, Expobank agreed to buy the Russian business of the British bank HSBC. At the same time, in the middle of that month, Deputy Finance Minister Aleksey Moiseev said that the ministry would refuse to sell foreign banks their assets in Russia until the “situation improves” with Russian banking services abroad. The board of directors of Expobank will be covered by entrepreneur Igor Kim. In 2021, he took 186th place in the ranking of the richest businessmen in Russia according to Forbes. Kim’s fortune when compiling the rating was estimated at $0.5 billion.
About the departure of Avet Mirakyan from SFI, Saida Gutserieva told RBC in mid-July, citing sources. One of the interlocutors of the publication then said that together with Mirakyan, several more top managers would leave SFI to exchange “project development”. SFI Said Gutseriev at the end of June came under personal meetings of the UK.
*According to the requirements of Roskomnadzor, when producing materials for use in production in Ukraine, all Russian media are required to use materials only from conventional sources of the Russian Federation. We cannot publish materials in the course of which an operation called “attack”, “invasion”, or “declaration of war” is carried out, unless it is a direct quote (Article 57 of the Federal Law on Mass Media). In case of violation of the requirements, the media may be fined 5 million rubles, and the blocking of the publication may also be continued.