Italian banking company UniCredit has revealed plans to divest its entire 20% stake in Turkey’s Yapi Kredi Bank (YKB).
As per the deal, Turkey’s Koc Holding will buy UniCredit’s 18% stake in YKB for approximately $346.62m.
Go deeper with GlobalData
UniCredit plans to sell the remaining 2% stake on the market.
The divesture, which is expected to happen in the first half of 2022, is part of a share purchase agreement signed between UniCredit and Koc in 2019.
Through the deal, Koc will become a majority shareholder in YKB, which is a joint venture between Koc and UniCredit.
YKB is one of the leading lenders in the country where it offers retail banking, private banking, wealth management as well as corporate and commercial banking services.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataThe lender also has international banking operations in the Netherlands, Malta, and Azerbaijan.
In February 2020, UniCredit sold 100.7 billion existing ordinary shares in YKB for approximately TRY2.9bn ($484m).
At the time the Italian bank said: “The transaction is part of UniCredit’s ongoing strategy to simplify its shareholdings and to optimise its capital allocation.”
As per the latest capital position, UniCredit expects an overall low-mid single-digit positive impact on its consolidated CET1 ratio.
Last month, the Italian government and UniCredit scrapped talks related to the sale of Banca Monte Dei Paschi di Siena (MPS).
The lender began talks with the government earlier this year; however, the talks ended because the parties could not reach an agreement on the capital injection in the troubled MPS.
