The major French bank Societe Generale (SocGen) is selling its Russian subsidiary Rosbank and its insurance business to the Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin.

With the agreement, the bank is withdrawing from Russia in an orderly manner and at the same time guaranteeing continuity for its employees and customers, the French institute announced at the beginning of the week.

The billionaire Potanin is the largest shareholder of the nickel group Norilsk Nickel.

The 61-year-old has been sanctioned in Canada, but he is not on the sanctions lists in Europe and the United States.

Potanin acquires Rosbank through his holding company Interros Capital.

For the French, the withdrawal is a loss-making business: SocGen has to digest a total of three billion euros in charges.

Financial details of the deal were not given.

However, SocGen said Interros had agreed to repay Rosbank's subordinated debt.

The common equity tier 1 capital ratio will fall by around 0.2 percentage points in the course of the transaction.

However, SocGen wants to stick to share buyback and dividend plans.

Second richest Russian

Investors were pleased that the uncertainty was over.

SocGen shares rose more than six percent in Paris by Monday afternoon.

"Russia contributes only 2 percent to earnings, but SocGen's share price is up 7 percent today despite essentially giving away the business," commented Johann Scholtz, an analyst at Morningstar, on the deal.

This shows what price discounts would be made on the market for potential Russian risks.

However, the deal still has to be approved by the authorities.

The major French bank joined Rosbank in 2006 and merged its own Russian activities with the institute in 2010.

SocGen paid $317 million for its initial 10 percent stake in Rosbank.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions imposed, numerous Western companies have since withdrawn from Russia or have announced they will.

According to Forbes magazine, Potanin is the second richest Russian with assets of around $27 billion.

His rise began in the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the former Soviet Union.

He worked part-time as a banker before founding Interros in 1990, which acts as the parent company for his many activities, ranging from metal production to a ski resort.

(Report by Tassilo Hummel.