ABH Holdings

ABHH subsidiaries offer a wide range of products and operate in all sectors of the financial market, including interbank operations, corporate and retail lending, deposit acceptance and account servicing, foreign currency transactions, cash handling services, value storage services, investment banking services and other support services to corporate and private clients.

As of December 2014, the total number of full-time employees of ABHH subsidiaries reached almost 42,000 people, the number of corporate clients amounted to more than 210,400, while the number of private clients totaled more than 16.7 million, and the total number of branches increased to 966 offices.

History

2024: Recovery of 26.5 billion rubles and 47.3 million Swiss francs in favor of Alfa-Bank

On August 1, 2024, the Moscow Arbitration Court fully satisfied Alfa-Bank's claim against the Cypriot company ABH Financial Ltd, obliging the latter to pay ₽26,5 billion and CHF47,3 million. The decision was made in favor of the largest private bank in Russia.

According to Prime, the collection amount consists of two parts in different currencies. The first part, declared in Russian rubles, is the amount of payments to Russian holders of ABH Financial Eurobonds, which Alfa-Bank JSC made in accordance with presidential decrees. The second part is the value of securities owned by Alfa-Bank itself.

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Bloomberg

The representative of the plaintiff explained that the bank was forced to make payments for the Cypriot company itself. "No one paid us, we cannot pay ourselves either," said an Alfa-Bank lawyer.

The defendant - ABH Financial Ltd - is the foreign holding structure of Alfa-Bank. Earlier, in May 2024, the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region, at the request of the Ministry of Finance of Russia, suspended the corporate rights of ABH Financial Ltd in relation to AB Holding JSC, which controls Alfa Bank JSC.

The representative of the defendant declared the non-jurisdiction of the case to the Russian court, arguing that the parties had previously agreed to refer their disputes to London arbitration. However, the trial court ruled in favor of the plaintiff.

Financial market experts note that this lawsuit may be related to the settlement of financial relations between Alfa-Bank and the Cypriot company in the context of current geopolitical restrictions on the international movement of capital.

According to the results of the first quarter of 2024, Alfa-Bank JSC ranks fourth in terms of assets among Russian banks.^[1]

2023

ABH Holdings bought 32% of Mozen

AB Holding, the parent of Alfa-Bank, received 32% of Mosen LLC. The remaining 68% belongs to the general director of the service for the withdrawal of funds from taxi drivers and taxi companies Oleg Semibratov. This became known on October 9, 2023. Read more here.

ABH Holdings bought 25% of "Кассир.ру"

On August 7, 2023, AB Holding, the parent structure of Alfa-Bank, received 25% of the ticket operator Кассир.ру. This is evidenced by the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRUL). Read more here.

2022: Andrey Kosogov is the largest beneficiary of ABH Holdings

In March 2022, it became known that Andrei Kosogov became the largest beneficiary of Alfa Bank. Previously, the largest stake in the credit institution belonged to Mikhail Fridman. Read more here.

2020: Investing $21m in ANNA Money

On May 14, 2020, it became known that ANNA Money closed the round to attract investments in the amount of 17.5 million pounds sterling ($21 million). The only investor in this transaction  was AVN Holdings (unites Alfa-Group companies), which received a majority stake in a British fintech startup. However, what share is in question is not specified. The  founders will retain 40%, according to TechCrunch. Read more here.

2016: Purchase of Ukrsotsbank

In January 2016, investment holding ABH Holdings (ABHH; 100% owned by Alfa Group shareholders) agreed with Unicredit Group (UCG) to acquire Ukrsotsbank. In exchange for the acquisition of ABHH Ukrsotsbank, Unicredit will receive 9.9% of the increased authorized capital of ABH Holdings, the Italian group said in a statement.

The representative of the minority shareholder will also receive a seat on the board of directors of ABHH and the right to initiate an IPO of the investment holding. In addition, the parties agreed on the right to redeem or sell a block of shares after five years from the date of closing the transaction.

The fact that Alfa Group may acquire Ukrsotsbank in exchange for a stake in ABHH became known in August 2015. Then the parameters of the transaction were not called.

UniCredit plans to cut about 18.2 thousand jobs by 2018, including about 6 thousand jobs by selling Ukrsotsbank and a stake in Pioneer Global Asset Management SpA.