Sberbank ADRs to start LSE trading Friday

Sberbank's American Depositary Receipts will begin trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on Friday, Russia's top lender said on Thursday. "Trading is expected to start on July 1, 2011. ADRs have been assigned the SBER ticker on the London Stock Exchange," Sberbank said in a statement. Sberbank's ADRs have been admitted to trading on the International Order Book platform, which handles transactions with the most liquid foreign securities. Sberbank launched its long-awaited Level 1 depositary receipts program on June 27. Sberbank selected BoNY Mellon as the depositary bank for its American Depositary Receipts program in April and filed an application in May to transfer up to 25 percent of its shares into depositary receipts. One ADR represents four Sberbank shares. Sberbank's depositary receipts program comes ahead of the lender's 7.6 percent stake sale scheduled for fall, part of a broader state privatization campaign worth 1 trillion rubles over three years. The listing on foreign stocks exchanges allows the bank to expand its investor base ahead of the share sale. Sberbank follows in the footsteps of Russia's second-largest lender VTB, which sold a 10 percent stake in February worth $3.3 billion.