Entrepreneur Vladimir Potanin has reported “hundreds of millions” given by him for Oleg Tinkov’s stake in Tinkoff Bank. The corresponding statement he made in an interview with Interfax.

“To call hundreds of millions of dollars kopecks my tongue does not turn. For me this is a lot of money,” Potanin said.

“About the price, the bank founder and I did not talk at all. I proceeded from the fact that he sells for the price that suits him for some reason. It seemed to me that he was more interested in preserving the business, the team and the future of the bank in general. The founder discussed his legacy with me rather than any other issues. It seemed to me that it was more important to him that the bank was in good hands. He evaluated it according to his own criteria, and the dialog was mainly about that,” Potanin said.

On April 28, Vladimir Potanin’s Interros announced the acquisition of a 35% stake in TCS Group from Oleg Tinkov’s family. The parties did not disclose the amount of the deal, but Oleg Tinkov stated that he parted with it “for pennies” in relation to the fair fundamental value of the asset.

According to Kommersant, the deal could have been worth $300m.