UPDATE 1-Russia's VTB says bad loans may rise to $9 bln
* Bad loans within VTB may rise to $9 bln
* VTB may transfer problem loans to special unit
* Shareholders meeting to approve the transfer
(Adds detail, background)
MOSCOW, June 19 (Reuters) - Russia's second-biggest lender, VTB (VTBR.MM), said bad debts within the bank could rise to $9 billion by June 2010, VTB's spokesman told Reuters on Friday.
State-controlled VTB is struggling with losses as deteriorating assets erase its profits and eat into capital, forcing the state to allocate 200 billion roubles ($6.43 billion) for capital injections later this year.
"It is ($9 billion) the possible volume of problem loans that may be transferred to the debt centre in the period between July 2009 and June 2010," VTB spokesman Maxim Luniov said.
In April, VTB Chief Executive Andrei Kostin said bad loans would not exceed 8 percent of VTB's portfolio this year. The bank's total loan portfolio was around $87 billion as of Jan. 1. [ID:nL2952652] [ID:L8635856]
VTB is asking its annual shareholders meeting to approve possible deals with its debt centre totalling up to $9 billion, the bank said in materials for the meeting.
VTB set up a debt centre to manage bad loans in February but has repeatedly said it had no plans to spin them off to clear up its balance sheet.
The bank has already transferred bad loans worth more than 45 billion roubles to the debt centre, the head of the centre, Andrey Puchkov, told Kommersant daily earlier this week. ($1=31.09 Rouble) (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev and Oksana Kobzeva; editing by Simon Jessop)
