Russian businessmen Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven have agreed to sell their stake in Russia’s largest private lender Alfa-Bank to avoid western sanctions.
Fridman
and Aven owned a 45% stake in Alfa-Bank through a Luxembourg-based
holding company that controls the bank’s Cyprus-based parent company.
- According
to sources, Fridman and Aven have agreed to sell their stake in
Alfa-Bank for Rbs178B ($2.3B) to their longtime business partner Andrei
Kosogov.
- Fridman and Aven have been fighting western sanctions imposed on them following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- The men are alleged to have ties with the Russian government.
- The U.S. and the U.K. placed punitive measures on Alfa-Bank in March 2022; the EU introduced its measures last month.
- Fridman and Aven have denied having any ties with the Kremlin.
- Neither of them has received any indication that selling Alfa-Bank will convince the EU to remove the sanctions.
