Open whether deal will work

Strabag: Deripaska wants to sell shares to Russians

It remains to be seen whether the Russian subsidiary of RBI will be able to buy Deripaska's shares at all.(Bild: APA/AFP/Natalia KOLESNIKOVA)

With the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Strabag's business ties with the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska have come under pressure. After pressure from the group, he now wants to transfer his stake in the group - to the Russian company Iliadis.

At issue are the 24.1 percent shares that Deripaska held in Strabag until recently via MKAO Rasperia Trading Limited. According to his plan, just under a quarter of the company is now to go to the Russian subsidiary of Raiffeisen International (RBI).

Questionable whether Russians will be allowed to take over
This was announced by Strabag in a press release on Wednesday. Further details are not yet known. Whether Iliadis will be able to acquire the stake as planned is still open, according to the group. Strabag is also unable to assess whether the transfer will have an impact on Raiffeisen Russia's purchase plans.

In any case, the construction group itself continues to regard the share package as sanctioned. "In particular, an examination under sanctions law cannot therefore be carried out at present, so that the company continues to assume that the Strabag shares in MKAO Rasperia Trading Limited are frozen in accordance with the EU Sanctions Regulation," the company writes.

Possible price: 1.5 billion euros
For RBI, however, the transfer could be a first step towards significantly reducing its exposure in Russia. In December 2023, the bank announced its intention to acquire Deripaska's stake in Strabag via its Russian subsidiary, Raiffeisen Russia.

A possible purchase price of 1.5 billion euros for Deripaska's share package was mentioned at the time. By comparison, Raiffeisen Russia's equity amounted to 4.45 billion euros at the end of 2023.

Shares could come to Vienna via detours
According to RBI, Raiffeisen Russia would then transfer the share package to the parent company in Vienna in the form of a dividend in kind. RBI would then hold the stake via an investment company whose managing director is the entrepreneur Stephan Zöchling. Zöchling is co-owner of the Styrian exhaust specialist Remus and, according to media reports, is said to have worked for Deripaska.

Last week, RBI explained in a statement that it had carefully reviewed all applicable sanctions before the transaction was announced in December.