When the Russian government designated Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) in October 2010 as its sole agent to sell a 10% stake in Russia’s second largest bank VTB, the stakes were very high, says Riccardo Orcel, BAML’s head of Corporate and Investment Banking for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.
“This was the inaugural transaction of Russia's $60bn privatization programme kicked off with one of the prize assets, 85% state-controlled VTB,” he says.
