UK high-street bank Barclays has almost secured a controlling stake in Russian retail bank Expobank, according to a Moscow newspaper report. Citing Expobank insiders and investment bankers, Russian newspaper Kommersant said Barclays was seeking to take control with an option to increase its stake to 100 per cent. Established in 1993, Expobank had total assets of 29.7 billion roubles as of 1 January 2008. It was previously owned by the WIMM BILL DANN Foods Company which sold it to the Russian commercial bank MDM. In 2001, MDM sold it to a group including British mining tycoon Peter Hambro, his partner Pavel Maslovsky, and Expobank executives Kirill Yakubovsky and Andrei Vdovin. A London spokesman for Barclays told WealthBriefing: "We don't comment on market rumours." However, market sources in Moscow indicate that Barclays and its investment banking arm Barcap have been desperately trying to ramp up the group's presence in Russia. "They have been in the market for quite a while looking for a mid-sized lender to buy but they are not cheap anymore," said a banker. Barcap quit the country after losing £250 million in the 1998 Russian debt default. The investment bank, chaired by Russia veteran Hans Joerg-Rudloff, is plotting its own return into the increasingly crowded market.