VK Sells Stake in Tochka Bank

The Russian internet company VK has sold its 25 percent stake in Tochka Bank. The buyer is Interros, the holding company of Vladimir Potanin. The purchase price is 21.2 billion rubles, equivalent to approximately 255 million U.S. dollars. This clears the way for Potanin’s T-Technologies to further expand its influence over the digital bank and, in the long term, take full control.

The transaction is part of Potanin’s broader expansion strategy in the financial and technology sectors. Both T-Technologies and Interros are under his control. T-Technologies, which emerged from the former TCS Banking Group, has broadened its presence in recent years not only in the banking business but also in the fintech and technology sectors.

This includes the acquisition of a 64 percent stake in the fintech service Tochka, as well as stakes in the Russian technology group Yandex and the cloud provider Selectel. With the purchase of VK’s stake, a full takeover of Tochka Bank is now within reach.

Tochka Bank itself specializes in small and medium-sized enterprises and, according to the company, serves around 800,000 customers. This makes it one of the most important digital financial platforms for Russian SMEs.

For VK, the deal appears to have been financially worthwhile. According to The Bell, the group had acquired the stake as recently as the fourth quarter of 2023 for 11.6 billion rubles. It is now selling it for nearly double that amount. Added to this are dividends totaling 4.3 billion rubles that VK is said to have received during the holding period.

The sale also highlights how ownership structures in the Russian technology and financial sectors continue to shift. For Potanin, the move is another building block in the expansion of a closely integrated ecosystem of banking services, digital platforms, and technology investments.