OREANDA-NEWS. On 11 March 2009 the management of Vnesheconombank (Russia), the majority owner of Prominvestbank (PIB), announced about the possibility to buy the National Credit bank. With this aim the National Credit will be incorporated to the PIB's structure. Additionally, the new strategy of PIB was announced. In particular, the owners of PIB intend to bring the bank to Top-5 largest Ukrainian banks and to invest the last tranche of its USD 1bn loan (USD 285mn) in the 2Q2009. Note that till the end of 2008 both PIB and the National Credit had the same owner, V. Matvienko, who is currently the honorary President of PIB.

Millennium Capital sees the news to be POSITIVE for PIB, since the above announcement seems about the strong parent support of the bank. At the same time the joining of the National Credit may initially deteriorate the quality of the banks credit portfolio, requiring the additional investment to the bank (around UAH 50mn) to increase its reserves. Still, the announced investment will suffice in the additional capitalization of the above two banks.

Millennium Capital is an integrated financial services provider. Established in 2000 by a group of professionals with solid background in securities and corporate finance, Millennium Capital is now one of the major investment banking institutions.