Sberbank to decide on privatization of 7.6% stake

Russia's top lender Sberbank will decide on the sale of a 7.6 percent stake owned by the central bank in the next few weeks, its head German Gref said on late on Wednesday. "We have planned to sell the shares in September-October... But we have always said privatization depends on the market situation... In the next few weeks we will look into whether it is realistic to place the shares or not," Gref told journalists. Sberbank's top managers have said that the bank will privatize its 7.58 percent stake, part of the country's $60 billion privatization plan, by attracting key investors and selling shares on Russian and foreign trading floors. The Federal Service for Financial Markets has allowed Sberbank to place up to 25 percent of its shares abroad. Last week central bank first deputy chairman Alexei Ulyukayev said Russia could postpone the Sberbank privatization because of the turmoil on international financial markets. The financial markets, unsettled by the uncertainty of global economic growth, have pushed Sberbank's share price down 23 percent since the start of August, wiping over $1 billion off its value. The sale is expected to earn the Russian state around $6 billion. Gref declined to predict market trends. "The situation is so volatile, the world economy has so many uncertain factors that giving forecasts is like reading tea leaves," he said, adding that no one could forecast the development of the European debt crisis, or the economic situation in the United States or China. In June, Sberbank launched its long-awaited Level One American Depositary Receipts program to expand its investor base ahead of the share sale.