5 April 2008
Raiffeisen International (RI) announced its intension to sell it Ukrainian subsidiary, Raiffeisenbank-Ukraine (RBU). If the sale, planned for this month, fails to take place, then RBU and Aval Bank will be merged as planned. As the Raiffeisen brand is not going to be sold, RI will rename Aval “Raiffeisen Bank Aval.” Concorde Capital: It looks like the process of merging the two banks turned out to be more complicated and expensive than Raiffeisen expected. The sale of RBU, which focuses on the corporate segment, will shift RI’s focus to retail clients (Aval is Ukraine’s #2 retail lender). The funds obtained from the sale are expected to be used to improve Aval’s banking operations.