Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of an opposition Georgian Dream coalition, has sold his bank in Russia, Rossiyskiy Kredit, to a group of six private investors for USD 352 million, the bank said in a statement on its website on May 10.
Ivanishvili, who is ranked at 153 position in Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s billionaires with an estimated worth of USD 6.4 billion, announced about intention to sell his businesses in Russia, which reportedly is third of his total assets, when he declared about his political plans in Georgia in October, 2011.
Among Ivanishvili’s assets in Russia are Doctor Stoletov pharmacy chain, construction and real estate development, as well as agriculture businesses. Ivanishvili’s businesses in Russia are managed through his company Unicor.
Rossiyskiy Kredit said in the statement that Unicor entered into deal over the bank’s sale with a group of private investors, including: George Gens, president of LANIT JSC, provider of information technology services; Anatoly Motilev, ex-head of the Globex Bank; Boris Khait, former owner of Spasskiye Vorota insurance company; Boris Pastukhov, former owner of UralSib insurance and financial holding, who now runs chain of outpatient clinics in Russia, as well as Victor Lukianov and Vladimir Faerovich
The sale is expected to be completed before September 1, 2012, Rossiyskiy Kredit said.