ABH Holdings and Alfa Group’s official statement regarding recent media publications

The Luxembourg holding company ABH Holdings S.A., owner of Sense Bank (Ukraine), Alfa-Bank (Russia) and Alfa Insurance plans to exit from its Russian assets.

Member of the Board of Directors of ABH Holdings S.A. (“ABHH”), Mr. Andrew Baxter, confirmed that ABHH plans to exit from all business in Russia, both banking and insurance: “The ABHH Group is coordinating with European and other relevant regulators on a deal for the sale of Alfa-Bank (Russia), at the same time as exploring other options such as redomicile, restructure and spin-off.”

In addition, Mr Baxter stressed that shareholders of ABHH who are under EU sanctions do not participate in any way in the work of ABHH, do not have access to the assets of ABHH, and cannot dispose of their shares in ABHH, because they are frozen in accordance with European law.

Mr. Baxter also stated that he considers it evident that today it is not feasible to simultaneously conduct business in Russia and the West, including Ukraine: “The concept of global business has proved untenable. Globalization, contrary to expectations and hopes, turned out to be a cyclical process and today global business has fallen hostage to political decisions. A new "Berlin Wall" has risen. Consequently, all investors who worked in Russia, in Ukraine, in Europe, and in America, will have to make their choice. We understand that this choice is unavoidable and for us, a European company, the decision is obvious.”

Turning to the recent press article related to Alfa Insurance, the representative of ABHH stated “Firstly, all “OSAGO” agreements referred to in the article were concluded before February 2022. Secondly, in accordance with Russian law, these agreements are not valid on territory where hostilities are taking place. Finally, Alfa Insurance has not violated the sanctions regime imposed by the EU.”

Regarding the scandalous materials that appeared in the press about X5 Retail, a representative of Alfa Group reported the following: X5 Retail is a public company registered in the Netherlands, a controlling stake of which is traded on the London Stock Exchange. Alfa Group is the owner of a minority stake in the company. As in the situation with Alfa Insurance, shareholders under sanctions are completely cut off from the management of the company and cannot dispose of their shares. A representative of Alfa Group stated that “For some of our investments, we cannot even see the company's financial statements. Management simply refuses to show us. There are examples when we are forced to demand access to information about the company's actions through the courts. But one thing we can say with certainty is that no violation of sanctions has taken place in any of our companies that are under the supervision of British and European regulators.”

Unfortunately, one gets the impression that some of the information that periodically appears in the Ukrainian press is distorted in order to provide a basis for the expropriation of assets.