After the rumors, it's official: Unicredit has signed a non-binding agreement for the sale of part of its business Russian subsidiary Ao Bank.
The buyer, a note explains, “is a private investor consolidated with headquarters in United Arab Emirates with long-standing relationships with the local institutional and business community, for which UniCredit has carried out the required compliance checks,” explains Piazza Gae Aulenti. Following the announcement at Piazza Affari, Unicredit shares rise by 1,14% at 71,75 euros per share against a slightly lower Ftse Mib (-0,18%).
UniCredit: What's Left in Russia?
The agreement “accelerates the refocusing process of Unicredit's activities in Russia", underlines the bank led by Andrea Orcel. To date, only the activities on international payments, mainly in euros and US dollars, for Western and Russian corporate clients not subject to sanctions in relation to the war in Ukraine.
The operation has been structured and will be carried out in such a way as to “ensure continuity and stability for customers and employees,” UniCredit further reassures, explaining that customers using UniCredit payment solutions to and from Russia will maintain access to the current range of operations throughout the process.
Ao Bank's spin-off
Ao Bank employees will benefit from an accelerated transition that will lead to creation of two separate banks with clearly defined strategies and objectives. The agreement in fact provides the spin-off of part of Ao Bank's assets into a new separate entity, which will remain 100% owned by UniCredit, followed by the sale of Ao Bank and the remaining assets to the buyer.
The effects on capital and the income statement
Unicredit expects that the agreement will "generate a overall capital benefit of approximately 35 basis points", given that "a negative impact at closing of approximately 20-25 basis points will be more than offset by the reduction of the residual loss in the extreme scenario to approximately 30-40 basis points compared to approximately 93 basis points calculated in the first quarter of 2026 and excluding the regulatory thresholds," the bank states. It is also estimated that the transaction, which is expected to close in the first half of 2027 and will involve "a cumulative negative impact on the income statement of approximately 3,0-3,3 billion euros, including approximately 1,6-1,8 billion deriving from the effect of the foreign exchange reserve (a non-monetary item with no impact on capital) on the income statement”.
There will be no consequences of dividends, "since the related effects will be excluded from the definition of net profit for distribution purposes", nor on the 2028-2030 profit targets "since any additional negative factors with respect to those already incorporated in the assumptions will be compensated". No impact on net profit targets either of the Unicredit Unlimited 2028–2030 plan, in this case because any additional negative factors compared to those already incorporated in the assumptions "will be compensated", concludes Unicredit.
