Koba Gvenetadze, Governor of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) confirms that VTB Bank has buyers, although no official request for the purchase has been submitted to the National Bank.

"We do not have any new information regarding VTB Georgia. It is a sanctioned bank not a bankrupt, it is still active, highly capitalized, licensed bank and continues to operate within the framework of sanctions and restrictions.

There are those who want to buy, but the National Bank has not received a request on the acquisition of the bank", said Gvenetadze, and did not specify the identity of those who want to buy the bank.

According to BMG, the buyer of the bank is likely to be businessman Davit Khidasheli, who managed Intracom Telecom, one of the subsidiary companies of the sanctioned Russian oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov's holding "System" during 2013-2022. On July 25, in a conversation with BMG, Khidasheli neither denied nor confirmed his interest in acquiring the bank. "I will let you know when I do or buy something," Khidasheli said.

97.4% of the bank's shares are owned by Russian VTB Bank, 59.3% of whose shares are owned by the State of the Russian Federation.