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Italy's UniCredit Set to Divest Part of Russian Unit to UAE Investor

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UniCredit (UCG.MI) reached a nonbinding deal to sell part of its Russian subsidiary to a "well-established private investor" in the United Arab Emirates, as part of plans to refocus its operations in Russia around international payments.

Under the terms of the potential transaction, the Italian banking group intends to spin off part of AO Bank's activities into a new separate entity, which UniCredit would fully own, according to a Thursday release. Meanwhile, the remaining operations would be sold to the unspecified buyer, who has "long standing ties to the local institutional and business community" in the UAE.

UniCredit expects the divestment to result in a cumulative negative impact of between 3 billion euros and 3.3 billion euros on its net income. However, the bank noted that this will not affect its shareholder distribution or its net profit targets for the 2028 to 2030 period.

The group added that the deal is anticipated to boost its overall capital position with a 35 basis-point improvement.

"The transition has been structured and shall be executed to ensure continuity and stability for clients and employees. Customers utilizing UniCredit's payment solutions to and from Russia will maintain access to the current set of operations throughout the process," the group said.

UniCredit noted that both parties will work together to finalize the structure of the planned divestment. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to both parties reaching a binding agreement, the implementation of the spin-off of part of AO Bank's activities, and relevant regulatory approvals. 

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