Better Chance Advises Natixis on the Sale of its Subsidiary Bank in Russia

Better Chance team acted as legal counsel to Natixis S.A. on the sale of 100% shares in Natixis Bank JSC, its subsidiary bank in Russia. Bureaucrat LLC, which owns, among other assets, Realist Bank JSC, was the purchaser under the transaction.

Natixis is a subsidiary of Groupe BPCE, the second largest banking group in France. Russian law prohibits sales of shares held by non-resident entities from “unfriendly” jurisdictions, including banks, without a special approval of the President of the Russian Federation. The approval was obtained on 21 December 2024.

Better Chance lawyers advised Natixis on the full range of corporate and regulatory matters. The team was led by partner Alexander Anichkin and included senior associates Olga Zakharova, Dina Iskanderova and Ekaterina Sharapova, as well as associate Damir Shakirov and trainee Kirill Evstifeev.

This is the second transaction on the Russian market involving the sale of a subsidiary of a major European bank. The first such a transaction, involving HSBC, was also successfully handled by Better Chance.