Russian Sberbank Says Determined To Close Deal On Turkish Denizbank Sale Despite Lira Fall

Russia's largest bank Sberbank is determined to close the deal with the Emirates NBD bank on the sale of its Turkish subsidiary Denizbank, despite the lira's sharp fall against the US dollar, and expects the relevant approval from regulators, the banks press service told Sputnik on Monday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2018) Russia's largest bank Sberbank is determined to close the deal with the Emirates NBD bank on the sale of its Turkish subsidiary Denizbank, despite the lira's sharp fall against the US dollar, and expects the relevant approval from regulators, the banks press service told Sputnik on Monday.

Over several months, the Turkish lira has hit its all-time lows against the US Dollar and euro, which has sent the value of the sale down in dollar terms. The Currency has lost almost 20 percent of its value since Friday, when US President Donald Trump authorized a 20 and 50 percent tariff hike on imported Turkish aluminum and steel, respectively.

"[We] have signed a mutually binding agreement on the deal which sets forth all conditions, including the price. At present, the standard work on fulfilling requirements for closing the deal is underway, such as receiving approvals from regulators and antimonopoly bodies," the banks press service said.

Back in May, Sberbank signed a definitive agreement with the Emirates NBD bank on selling its entire 99.85 percent stake in Denizbank for 14.609 billion Turkish liras (or nearly $3.2 billion at the exchange rate as of May). The deal is pending approval by the regulators in Turkey, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

At that time Sberbank CEO Herman Gref noted that the bank expected to close the deal at the end of third or in the fourth quarter of the year and get at least $3.4 billion for its subsidiary's sale.

Deputy Chairman of the Sberbank Executive board Alexander Morozov, in turn, clarified in an interview with Bloomberg in May that the deal stipulated that the final price would be in the range between $3.4 billion and $3.7 billion, depending on exchange rate fluctuations, and that the transaction would be carried out in US Dollars.