Latest news with #AndreiKostin
Reuters
19-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Russia's VTB still plans to open a branch in Iran but will wait for hostilities to end first, CEO says
Russia, June 19 (Reuters) - Russia's second largest lender VTB still plans to open a branch in Iran, but will wait for hostilities between Israel and Tehran to end and is analysing the situation, VTB CEO Andrei Kostin said on Thursday. VTB, which is under Western sanctions, opened a representative office in Iran in 2023 and has applied for a banking licence. Israel bombed nuclear targets in Iran on Thursday and Iranian missiles hit an Israeli hospital overnight, as the week-old air war escalated with no sign yet of an off-ramp. "We do not know, nobody knows how the situation will develop there. We are analysing the situation," Kostin told reporters on the sidelines of Russia's biggest economic forum in St. Petersburg. "We applied for a licence, now we will wait, we will not take any action," Kostin said. "We are not in a hurry, let the shooting stop first." Kostin said that Iran had become a significant trading partner for Russia in recent years, but that doing business there was difficult. "We saw that there is a substantial business there, but it is not an easy place for business. The currency regulation there is very complex," Kostin said. A Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) free trade deal with Iran took effect in May. Iran's Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad, who visited Moscow in April, said that the free trade deal would increase bilateral trade to $6 billion. Iran was the third-largest buyer of Russian wheat in 2024.
Reuters
18-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
VTB, Rosneft deal over Zvezda shipyard is now dead, VTB CEO says
MOSCOW, March 18 (Reuters) - Russia's second-largest lender VTB's deal to acquire the Zvezda shipbuilding yard from oil company Rosneft is now dead because the VTB-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) cannot finance the acquisition, VTB CEO Andrei Kostin said on Tuesday. VTB is currently running USC, Russia's largest shipbuilder, which operates about 40 shipyards, design offices and repair yards across Russia, employing 95,000 staff. VTB said in December of last year that it was in talks with Rosneft over the Zvezda acquisition, stressing that consolidation of shipbuilding assets in USC was a good thing for the sector. "The evaluation is no longer ongoing. There is no deal anymore. And there won't be one. Because USC does not have the funds yet, but there is an effective owner there who will continue to operate," Kostin told reporters. Zvezda is Russia's most advanced shipbuilding yard, focusing on building large Arc7 ice-class tankers, able to cut through 2-metre thick ice to transport liquified natural gas (LNG) from Arctic projects. Russia is keen to develop its shipbuilding industry since it can no longer acquire advanced vessels and sophisticated maritime equipment from Western makers due to sanctions, imposed over its military action in Ukraine.
