By Mauro Orru


Raiffeisen Bank International said a deal to buy a stake in Austrian construction company Strabag from a Russian industrial tycoon complies with Western sanctions, after Reuters reported that the U.S. is pushing the bank to abandon the transaction.

The Austrian bank said Wednesday that it had briefed all relevant authorities, including the U.S. Treasury and the Office of Foreign Assets Control on the details of the transaction.

"It was acknowledged that there is no U.S. nexus to this transaction. It goes without saying that RBI will not proceed with any deal which would be in breach of sanctions, or expose RBI to the risk of sanctions," the bank said in a statement.

Reuters had reported that Washington is pressing Raiffeisen Bank to drop plans to buy a Strabag stake, citing unnamed sources.

Raiffeisen Bank announced a deal in December to buy a 27.78% stake in Strabag for 1.51 billion euros ($1.64 billion) in cash from Russia-based Rasperia Trading, controlled by Oleg Deripaska. In 2022, the U.S. Justice Department charged Deripaska and three of his associates with sanctions evasion and other crimes.


Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-20-24 1054ET