VTB to complete people's IPO buyback on Friday

VTB, Russia's second largest bank, will complete a buyback of its shares sold in a "people's IPO" in 2007 on Friday. As for 7:00 p.m. Moscow time on Thursday, about 77 percent of shareholders filed bids to sell back their shares, VTB 24, the bank's retail arm, said. Payments are scheduled to be completed by April 30. The purchase will be made at the price of the initial public offering, i.e. 13.6 kopecks per share, VTB 24 head Mikhail Zadornov said in February. VTB share prices declined soon after the IPO and have yet to recover to the offer price level. The market price is currently about seven kopecks per share. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin instructed state-controlled VTB in late January to devise a buyback plan for the people's IPO, which targeted members of the general public. Almost 120,000 retail investors in Russia bought shares in May 2007, part of a larger offering in which VTB floated 22.5% of its stock, raising some $8 billion.