German EOS Drops Plan to Sell Russian Debt Collection Business to Gazprombank
German EOS Group, which owns one of the largest debt collection companies in Russia, has backed out of a deal to sell its Russian subsidiary to entities affiliated with Gazprombank (GPB), according to RBC, citing two financial market sources. One of the sources said negotiations had been ongoing since at least autumn 2024 but have now ceased.
A spokesperson for LLC PKO EOS (controlled via Germany’s EOS Holding GmbH and EOS International Beteiligungs-Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH) confirmed to RBC that EOS Group is no longer in talks to sell its Russian business.
News of EOS Group seeking a buyer for its Russian operations first surfaced in spring 2024. Experts interviewed by RBC describe EOS as one of the biggest players in the debt assignment market, purchasing distressed debts from banks and collecting them independently.
For GPB, acquiring EOS would have likely been a portfolio investment – assets from companies exiting Russia are sold at a significant discount, creating potential for resale profit. According to RBC, the deal’s collapse may have been influenced by the sharp deterioration in exit conditions for foreign companies in Russia. Specifically, in October 2024, the relevant government sub-commission raised the mandatory discount on the market value of sold assets from 50% to 60%, and increased the required payment to the federal budget from 15% to 35% of the asset’s value. Another likely factor was the imposition of US blocking sanctions on GPB in November 2024.