Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.21 / Trend, N.Ismayilova /
Latvian Citadele banka continues to hold talks for the sale of Azerbaijani leasing company Parex Leasing & Factoring, operating since March 2005, Parex Bank Baku Office Chief Andrejs Krivans told Trend.
"Decisions about selling has yet to be taken by the bank, but talks are underway with potential buyers," he said.
The sale of the leasing company and the division of the bank's assets are connected. Hence, Parex Banka and Citadele banka banks were established.
Citadele banka is a credit institution established within the restructuring plan of Parex banka and its founder, Privatizācijas aģentūra. On Aug. 1, the bank finalized the process of dividing assets and created Citadele banka.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) owns 25 percent shares of the Citadele banka, created in the restructuring of Parex banka. Part of the funds invested by the state in the bank (amounting to 692 million lats), will remain in the old Parex banka, while 230 million lats will be transferred to the new bank..
As Parex banka senior vice president and head of the Directorate for managing capital Robert Idelson told Trend earlier, The sale of Parex Leasing is necessary because it doesn't suite the banks current profile. Similarly, lending outside of Latvia is not a priority to the bank. "We want to find the appropriate customer for the leasing company. Should we fail in this, however, it's likely the status quo will remain. Yet the portfolio will stagnate as no funds are allocated to increase the loan portfolio," Idelson said.
At present, the bank is exempted from similar assets in Russia and Ukraine, and the Latvian Rietumu Bank already bought the leasing company in Belarus. The leasing company Parex Bank operates in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Minsk, Tallinn and Vilnius.
The authorized capital for Azerbaijani company Parex Leasing & Factoring amounted to $50,000.