Russia's VTB places 41.5 pct of new share issue

MOSCOW, Sept 7 (Reuters) - VTB (VTBR.MM), Russia's second biggest lender, placed 3.735 trillion new shares from 9 trillion shares on offer with existing shareholders, raising 180.03 billion roubles ($5.70 billion), the bank said on Monday.

State-controlled VTB is struggling with losses as rising bad loans consume its profit and capital so the state allocated 180 billion roubles to support the bank's capital base.

Analysts and investors expected the government to be the only buyer for new shares as the offering price was set with a 20 percent premium to the market. (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev; editing by Maria Kiselyova)