ZAGREB, December 12, 2018 – Sberbank Croatia on Tuesday dismissed reports that Maxsim Poletayev, an advisor to Sberbank’s Management Board chair, was leaving that Russian bank, saying that he would continue to perform his duties in his present post, along with his involvement in Agrokor restructuring.
Sberbank Croatia said that it had sent a denial also to some local web portals that published what it described as incorrect information.
The influential Russian daily Kommersant reported earlier that Poletayev was leaving Sberbank after spending 20 years in the biggest Russian bank and that he was joining the business system of oligarch Oleg Deripaska. According to a report published earlier by the Russian daily, Sberbank, Poletayev and Deripaska’s representatives declined comment on Poletayev’s transfer.
Poletayev is known in Croatia as the former first deputy to the Sberbank Management Board chair, who in June this year became an advisor to the Sberbank management board chair with the priority task of overseeing the settlement of the situation in Agrokor.
Sberbank is Agrokor’s biggest creditor with claims in the amount of 1.1 billion euros. After Agrokor’s creditors reached agreement in the process of the company’s emergency administration, Sberbank could soon become the biggest stakeholder, with a 39.2% interest.
Last week, Poletayev told Reuters that Sberbank had started receiving bids from various funds, from the United States and Canada to Great Britain, for the sale of its stake in Agrokor.
“All will depend on the price, so far we are studying them,” Poletayev told Reuters.
More news about Agrokor, Croatia’s embattled business giant, can be found in our Business section.
