Sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska has transferred his shares in Austria's largest construction company Strabag to an intermediary company, which could be the first step towards an agreement with the Austrian banking group Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) in its intentions to withdraw profits from Russia. This is reported by the Austrian newspaper Die Presse.
The publication recalled that only in early March, representatives of US financial and sanctions authorities visited Vienna to hold meetings with RBI management.
The main focus of the negotiations was focused on Raiffeisen's plans to withdraw its income from Russia through a confusing agreement – at least 1.5 billion euros. The US was reportedly critical of these intentions, but “the agreement appears to be in full swing.”
The completion of its first phase is indicated by a press release from Strabag, according to which the construction group received on Tuesday evening a notification from its main shareholder Oleg Deripaska about the transfer of shares in Strabag, which he owns together with his company Rasperia, to the Russian company Iliadis. The corresponding transfer was allegedly completed in December last year.
Deripaska is on the sanctions list and does not actually have the right to profit from his investments in Strabag, so the transfer of his shares to Iliadis, which has an opaque ownership structure and is allegedly not connected with him, is organized.
“She must buy Strabag shares Deripaska, including dividends that the oligarch actually does not have the right to receive due to sanctions, and then sell them to a Raiffeisen subsidiary in Moscow. Then all this should be transferred to Vienna as a distribution in kind,” the material says.
It is recalled that since the beginning of the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, Raiffeisen Bank International, due to sanctions, has not had access to its income in Russia, where the lion's share of the business of this banking group is earned. An agreement with Deripaska would give Raiffeisen the opportunity to withdraw its profits from Russia.
RBI profits in Russia
Raiffeisen Bank International has had huge profits since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine thanks to its position as the largest European lender remaining in Russia.
In the nine months of 2023, more than half of the bank's profits came from its Russian division. The bank is one of the largest creditors in Central and Eastern Europe.
Bypassing sanctions
In December 2023, the Ministry of Finance wrote that Raiffeisen Bank International entered into an asset exchange agreement with Oleg Deripaska , which allows you to bypass EU sanctions restrictions and transfer to the Russian his frozen capital amounting to 1.5 billion euros.
RBI said that its Russian subsidiary will make a cash payment to Deripaska in exchange for his 28% in Austrian Strabag. one of the largest construction companies in Europe.
Deripaska
Oleg Deripaska is the founder of aluminum production companies Rusal, Basic Element and En+ Group.
Share The Russian's Strabag, which he owned through his company Rasperia, was frozen last year by the EU in response to the bloc naming him as a Kremlin assistant in the war against Ukraine.