Business
Russian bank VTB wants to sell all its agricultural assets, CEO says
Russian bank VTB wants to sell all its agricultural assets, CEO says
About this update from Vtb
Russia's VTB, the country's second-largest lender, has decided to sell all its agricultural assets in a reversal of its previous plan, CEO Andrei Kostin said on Wednesday without specifying the reasons or mentioning a potential buyer.In December, VTB had reiterated plans to create a large agricultural holding from the nationalised assets it bought in the southern regions in December 2024."We're basically trying to sell off all of our non-core assets right now," Kostin told reporters, saying that there were many potential buyers of such assets.The central bank is planning to introduce limits on banks holding non-core assets from 2027.The assets bought by VTB were nationalised after an arrest warrant was issued for the former owner of the assets Andrei Korovaiko and his business partner Arkady Chebanov, both of whom are now living abroad.The assets have been consolidated into a company called Agrocomplex Labinsky, which owns 240,000 hectares of land, producing grains, milk, sugar, and other agricultural products.The company says that it exports up to 400,000 metric tons of grains and oilseeds annually.