11 June 2008, 11:39
Senator from Dagestan Suleiman Kerimov sells his assets in Russia
Billionaire and senator from Dagestan Suleiman Kerimov has sold huge stock packages in Russian Savings Bank ("Sberbank") and "Gazprom", and after selling out other assets, he will have practically no investments in Russia left. The businessman invests the obtained funds into foreign financial institutions - he has already bought about 3 percent in Deutsche Bank and securities of Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and UBS.
However, the Deutsche Bank would not officially confirm the purchase of its shares by Suleiman Kerimov. In an interview to the RIA "Novosti", the spokesman of the Bank said that under the laws of Germany any purchase of more than three percent in the stock of any company shall become public.
Meanwhile, the "Kommersant" wrote, with reference to its sources in investment banks in management companies, and sources close to the "Nafta-Moskva" company in charge of managing Suleiman Kerimov's assets that the structures under Kerimov's control have been actively selling "Sberbank" and "Gazprom" shares for a couple of recent months.
"They kept selling gradually these January-February," the board chairman of one of major banks said. Under unofficial data, the "Nafta-Moskva" held 4.5 percent in "Gazprom" (as of start of this year, the package was worth USD 15.37 billion) and 6 percent in "Sberbank" (USD 5.4 billion by the start of this year).
Apart from selling out "Gazprom" and "Sberbank" stocks, the structures controlled by Suleiman Kerimov have sold or negotiate to sell other businessman's Russian asserts.
