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TULA – Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said Tuesday he wanted to postpone discussion of an estimated $8.8 billion additional share issue by state-owned Sberbank in order to finalize the details. «In general, we support the issue, but the mechanism of the placement should be finalized. ... The amount is OK», Gref told reporters.

Sberbank's supervisory board, staffed by top officials including Gref and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, was due to decide Tuesday whether to approve the issue of 3.5 million new shares.

Sberbank has not disclosed the exact size of the planned issue but its president, Andrei Kazmin, has said it would be worth less than $10 billion.

Vedomosti on Tuesday quoted sources familiar with documents prepared for the meeting as saying the amount would not fall far short of that.

Two members of the supervisory board told the paper that the issue would involve a public offering of 3.5 million shares, to be sold only in Russia.

A Sberbank spokesman had earlier confirmed that the board would meet Tuesday but declined to comment on the agenda of the meeting.

Analysts at Aton brokerage said the issue was positive for shareholders because it would increase liquidity.

«Although Sberbank has a free float of more than 30 percent, many of its large shareholders are strategic investors, such as large Russian industrial groups or high-net-worth individuals», Aton said in a research note.

Sberbank's equity fundraising – a record for a Russian bank – will be one of two major Russian bank offerings next year. State-run Vneshtorgbank plans an initial public offering of up to 25 percent of the company in Moscow and London.

The issue by Sberbank, which was once the Soviet Union's savings bank and still controls half of the retail lending market, would come close in size to the $10.6 billion July IPO of Rosneft.