The beneficiary of the Russian business of the Alfa Group can become the beneficiary of Russian business purchases
Unicredit Group found a way out of Russia through investors from the UAE. Potential buyers are ready to purchase a Russian Unicredit-Bank with a 60 percent discount, as required by the legislation of the Russian Federation. However, Kommersant sources in the banking market are sure that Russian interests are worth the deal. According to Kommersant, the main contender for Unicredit-Bank are the structures of Alfa-Groups.
Three companies from the United Arab Emirates (the UAE) offered the Treasury of Italy to buy with a large discount Russian « daughters » of the Unicredit group, the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero said on May 28.
According to her information, a consortium from the UAE wants to buy a Russian Unicredit-Bank with a discount of 60% of the market value.
The transaction must be completed within six to eight months. The participants in the transaction themselves did not comment on the event. Later, this information was confirmed by Reuters with reference to a document sent to the Italy Ministry of Finance, which it got acquainted.
According to the three sources of Kommersant, this transaction may be made in the interests of the Alfa-Group consortium, the perimeter of which includes A1. “One of the two Arab funds is associated with this company,” one of the interlocutors of Kommersant points out. This structure of the transaction is necessary, since the main banking asset Alfa-Group-Alfa-Bank-is under the sanctions of the EU.
Alfa-Bank was informed “Kommersant” that they do not know about such plans. In A1 and Alfa-Groups, they did not respond to the request of Kommersant.
According to the plan, based in Dubai, ASAS Capital and Mada Capital will create a specialized company and unite with the Investa investment company, which is already working in Russia.
Inweasta was established in 2022 by the ex-head of the A1 Andrei Elinson. She implements her projects in more than 12 countries and manages assets worth more than $ 1 billion. In 2024, she acquired the Russian insurance business of the Czech PPF, “PPF Life Insurance”, having received the approval of the Central Bank and the Government Commission for Monitoring Foreign Investments. “Inweasta promotes all the necessary permits of regulatory bodies and documentation on a transaction in Russia,” the document refers to Reuters.
Unicredit-Bank has been working in Russia since 1989, part of the Italian group Unicredit. In March 2022, the chief executive director of Unicredit Andrea Orchel stated that the credit institution was considering the termination of activities in Russia due to increased risks. In addition, such a requirement comes from the European Central Bank (ECB), which indicates the « political decisions of the EU » of a sanctions nature in relation to the Russian Federation. In April 2025, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation said that he did not receive applications for the departure of the Unicredit-Bank from the Russian Federation. At the same time, the group reported that it plans to complete the retail business in Russia by mid -2026.
At the moment, Unicredit-Bank remains a profitable asset for the group. Moreover, the situation has changed slightly since 2022, when after the beginning the relationship between the Russian Federation and the EU exacerbated it.
According to Unicredit Group, according to the results of 2024, the profit of Russian business in ruble equivalent amounted to 52.1 billion rubles, against 56.5 billion in 2022. At the same time, according to the Russian reporting (RAS) of the Unicredit-Bank, in the first quarter of 2025 he earned 25.3 billion rubles. net profit. As of April 1, 2025, the bank’s assets amounted to 837.2 billion rubles. According to this indicator, Unicredit-Bank took 19th place in the rating of Interfax-100. The Bank of the Bank for Railways amounted to 331.5 billion rubles.
To sell Russian assets, Western companies need a decree of the President of the Russian Federation and the resolution of the Bank of Russia. “As a result, the applicants are actually forced to comply with the criteria applied by the Government Commission when coordinating transactions (in particular, a discount of at least 60% of the market value of shares and the payment of a voluntary 35 percent contribution to the budget),” said Andrei Filipenko, partner of Forward Legal. Requirements for a discount and contribution to the budget in this case will be applied regardless of who is the buyer – a Russian or foreign person. The Consortium from the UAE offers precisely a 60 percent discount. “Since UNikeredite has arrested some assets in Russia (about € 0.5 billion), the fate of these assets should be resolved before the sale and resolved at the highest level,” says Gennady Fofanov, CEO of the Invoskafe investment platform. At the same time, according to Oleg Ablev, the head of the analytical department of the RIKO-TRAST investment company, even if the business is sold, Unicredit will most likely encounter a restriction on the repatriation of revenue.
Government commissions are interested in the assets to own companies from friendly countries, so approval is likely to indicate the managing partner of Pozoen and Partners Marina Pozen. However, it is far from the fact that the company’s final beneficiaries will be the company from the UAE. “If someone from Russian banks stands for buyers from the UAE, then, judging by the size of the transaction, Sberbank, VTB, GPB, Alfa-Bank, PSB, RSHB, ICHB, MKB, T-Bank, Dom.rf, OTP-Bank and MTS Bank can afford such a purchase. FG « Dmitry Donskoy » Dmitry Kurbatsky.
