UAE-based investor Soven 1 Holding to acquire Priorbank: Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) finalized an agreement to sell its 87.7% stake in Belarusian unit Priorbank to Suhail Al Otaiba’s Soven 1 Holding at a loss, after months of pressure for it to exit its operations in Russia and surrounding countries, according to a statement. The transaction is expected to close sometime in 4Q 2024, subject to regulatory approvals, the statement said.

RBI will lose some EUR 300 mn on the sale, with the sale price at roughly half of the bank’s EUR 600 mn equity value, Reuters reports.

Background: Soven 1 Holding has been in talks with RBI on the transaction since February. Al Otaiba is the CEO of Abu Dhabi investor Talc Investment.

The details: The bank employs over 1.6k staff and holds some EUR 2 bn in deposits, and is known to have played a big role for Russians wanting to send funds abroad before it halted transfers in August. Soven 1 Holding will take full control of Priorbank, which will operate independently under its new ownership.

The story also got ink in Bloomberg.

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