For the sake of withdrawal of sanctions. Russian billionairers Friedman and Aven got rid of the particles in Alfa-Bank-Financial Times

According to Financial Times, having lost Russian assets, they hope for the withdrawal of European sanctions.

The sale took place within the framework of the arrangement, concluded in 2023. The buyer was Andrey Koshov, who had the least share in Alfi before the war, but because of the sanctions he eventually bought a share of four large partners. Friedman and Aven owned 45% of the bank’s shares and 42% of the insurer’s shares. As a result of the agreement with them, both companies were estimated at 240 billion rubles.

Koshov, which is not under sanctions, became the largest shareholder of Alfa-Bank and the investment conglomerate of Letterone, who created Alfi partners in the United Kingdom after the sale Khan and Alexei Kuzmichov, in Alfa-Bank and Letterone in 2022.

The agreement with Friedman and Aven had to take place through a Cyprus Holding Company, and for its payment, Koshov agreed to attract a loan from Gazprombank, according to the correspondence with which FT was acquainted. The Cyprus regulator delayed approval, but in the end the process accelerated after the Russian authorities adopted a law on “Economically significant organizations ”that allows to transfer ownership of a foreign company into Russian jurisdiction.

In March 2024, the first list of such organizations was published, the first three of the alpha grouping was made of the first three companies: these were the main shareholder of Alfa-Bank, the main shareholder Alfastration and the structure of the X5 Group, which manages supermarkets “Fifth “,” Crossroads “,” Chizhik “. According to the sale agreement, Koshov bought the share of Friedman and Aven from Russian companies for his money, FT writes.

Friedman and Aven are seeking to remove the sanctions of the European Union and the United Kingdom. In 2024, the EU Court abolished some of the sanctions, deciding that the block did not provide sufficient evidence of the involvement of Friedman and Aven’s involvement in the attempts of the Russian authorities to undermine the sovereignty of Ukraine. However, other sanctions continue to act: they justify the status of billionaires as “leading businessmen … involved in the economic sector, which is a significant source of income” for the Kremlin.

Alfa-Bank and Alfastration are also under Western sanctions. The latter came under US sanctions as part of the last package of measures adopted by Joe Biden administration on January 10 against the Russian shadow fleet. Alfastricization was actively engaged in insurance of ships that delivered Russian oil to India.

On July 20, 2023, the NBU Board decided to withdraw a systematically important bank from the market and appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers with a proposal to participate in this procedure.

At the same time, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers to support the National Bank’s decision on the meaning of the bank.

On July 22, 2023 the state for 1 UAH bought 100% of the shares meaning bank (Earlier Alfa Bank) of the pod -Russian oligarch Michael Friedman.

The meaning of the bank, the former Alfa-Bank, Michael Friedman was indirectly owned by 32.86% of shares.