UPDATE 1-Sberbank may convert 15 pct of shares into GDRs
* Launch date to be decided no earlier than Feb
* No decision on prefs conversion yet
(Adds analyst comment, background)
MOSCOW, Nov 5 (Reuters) - State-run Sberbank (SBER03.MM), Russia's largest lender, is considering converting around 15 percent of its shares into Global Depositary Receipts, the head of the bank's committee for cooperation with minority shareholders told Reuters on Thursday.
The GDR programme will boost the liquidity of Sberbank's shares and has long been awaited by investors, many of whom are not comfortable buying stocks on the Russian market.
"Fifteen percent of shares is quite a comfortable level," said Olga Veselova, analyst at Troika Dialog.
Sberbank, with a market capitalisation of $48.3 billion according to Reuters data, plans to use the so-called "zero balance" scheme for its depositary receipt programme.
The scheme provides for conversion of stocks trading in Russia to depositary receipts trading abroad without the need to issue new shares. [ID:nLL692205]
"Sberbank will be ready to discuss the question of the time of the launch of the programme after three months at the earliest," said the head of the committee, Anton Danilov-Danilyan.
Sberbank, now the most liquid stock on the Russian market, has yet to decide on what type of its shares, common or preferred or both, will be converted.
The bank is considering different options and possible exchange boards to list its future GDR programme, but it is too early to choose between them, a source close to the bank said. (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev; Editing by Hans Peters)
