Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree on Tuesday to allow Russian carmaker Avtovaz (AVAZI_p.MM) acquire a 100% stake in RN Bank, a joint venture between Italian bank UniCredit and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
Tuesday's order cited an Aug. 5 decree, signed by Putin, which banned investors from so-called unfriendly countries from selling shares in key energy projects and banks until the end of the year. Japan's Nissan (7201.T) last month took a $687 million loss in handing over its business in Russia to a state-owned entity for one euro ($1.04), mirroring an earlier move by Renault (RENA.PA) which sold its majority stake in Avtovaz for one rouble.
Mitsubishi (7211.T) in October said nothing had yet been decided on whether it would withdraw from Russia in response to a Nikkei report that it was considering leaving. It halted production in April.
On its website, RN Bank says it is Russia's 56th-largest bank in terms of assets.
"The priority areas for the bank's activity are: consumer loans for buying the alliance's brands' cars, financing the alliance's brands' dealers, and also providing related financial services to customers," RN Bank says.
RN Bank could not immediately be reached. Avtovaz declined to comment.
