Russia's second-largest state-controlled VTB Bank (public joint-stock company) (MISX:VTBR) is negotiating selling a major grain trading asset Demetra-Holding LLC to Russian and foreign buyers, the CEO Andrei Kostin told Reuters in an interview. VTB has a 45% stake in the holding. As followed by bne IntelliNews, agro and grain asset deals have been in focus as large Russian market players reshape the domestic market amid Western sanctions as a result of the military invasion of Ukraine.

"We're coming out of there. It's decided," Kostin told Reuters, adding that the asset would be sold in 2023. "We have been out of control for a long time, and we will leave completely," according to Kostin, who did not specify potential buyers.

Demetra Holding controls a 50% minus one share stake in UGC, the government's agency for grain reserves and interventions.