Raiffeisen Bank International (RBIV.VI) has found a way, albeit a risky one, to cut the cost of getting its money out of Russia. The Austrian bank said on Tuesday that it had entered an asset swap with Rasperia, an entity owned by Oleg Deripaska. The bank’s Russian subsidiary will pay the oligarch just over 1.5 billion euros in exchange for his 28% stake in Strabag (STRV.VI), an Austrian builder.
The deal looks like a way of swapping money that would otherwise be stuck in Russia for a valuable offshore asset. Still, it requires both approval from the Kremlin and Austrian regulators, who froze the stake after Russia invaded Ukraine, and dealing with a sanctioned oligarch. There is, however, an upside to such a convoluted deal.
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(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are their own.)
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