Russian prosecutors help Sberbank tackle debtors

MOSCOW, July 24 (Reuters) - The Prosecutor General's office has helped Russia's biggest lender, Sberbank SBER03.MM, seize collateral worth around $1 billion and VTB (VTBR.MM) could be next to get such help, the chief prosecutor said on Friday.

Sberbank appealed for help after borrowers refused to pay back debt, the prosecutor's office press service told Reuters, adding debt will be paid back in assets rather than cash.

"With the direct intervention of the general prosecutors office, Sberbank has got back... around $1 billion. (We) have set up a working group with Sberbank and plan to do the same with VTB," chief prosecutor Yuri Chaika told reporters.

He declined to name the company involved, or its sector.

Russian companies are holding restructuring talks with lenders as their revenues fall, while the country's economy is suffering the first contraction in a decade and global capital markets remain shut for many firms.

Sberbank and VTB, both state-controlled, hold the lion's shared of Russia's credit portfolio, some of it backed by potentially lucrative industrial assets. Real estate, oil deposits and factories have already found their way into the banks' pockets as firms struggle to pay. [ID:nLO139164]

Sberbank was not available to comment, while VTB declined to comment. (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev and Oksana Kobzeva; Editing by Dan Lalor)