Banca Intesa's Takeover Of Ukrsotsbank In Doubt

Banca Intesa’s planned acquisition of an 85% stake of Ukrsotsbank is being threatened by a conflict with a minority shareholder. The USD 1.16 bln deal was contingent on the completion of a share emission, which has been blocked by a minority shareholder who claimed it wasn’t allowed to subscribe. The minority shareholder has also complained to Italy’s central bank, which has sent queries to Ukrsotsbank. Intesa said it and Ukrsotsbank were “jointly analyzing the situation”. Ukrsotsbank claimed the owners of rival Privatbank were stirring up problems. Tom Warner: We held off reporting this story when it broke on Tuesday until we could very its authenticity. Our sources confirm the deal is in doubt. The woman who spoke to media earlier this year on behalf of the minority shareholder was an associate of Mykhailo Schegolevsky, a former partner of Mr Pinchuk.