TPG Capital has purchased a minority stake in giant Russian state-owned bank VTB for $100 million, a source close to the situation has said.
The firm is investing alongside a number of other large investors, including sovereign wealth funds and similar strategic investors from the Middle East, Europe and Asia, in a $3.3 billion public offering by the Russian government, which is selling a 10 percent stake in the bank, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Recently, the private equity unit of VTB unveiled plans to ramp up its private equity activity in 2011, with its sights set on mid-market companies, real estate, oil and gas, infrastructure and agri-business plays. Among its real estate holdings is VTBC-DB Real Estate Partners, a Russia-focussed private equity real estate fund established with Deutsche Bank in 2009. Last year, Deutsche sold its stake to British management company Ashmore Investment Management.
In December 2010, TPG teamed up with global private equity heavyweights Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and Singaporean insurer Great Eastern Life to purchase Morgan Stanley's 34.3 percent stake in China International Capital Corporation (CICC). Financial terms were not disclosed, but media reports suggested the transaction would be valued at $1 billion. Morgan Stanley said in a statement it would record a pre-tax gain on the sale of approximately $700 million.
While TPG and KKR acquired 10.3 percent and 10 percent in the Chinese bank respectively, GIC and Great Eastern will buy the remaining 9 percent and 5 percent each, a source told PEI Asia in an earlier interview.
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