Bulgaria’s Postbank, a subsidiary of Greek Eurobank Ergasias, has completed the acquisition of the Bulgarian subsidiary of financial services firm Piraeus Bank for €75m ($84m).
The transaction secured the required approvals from the competent regulatory authorities in Bulgaria, including the National Bank of Bulgaria, and the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund.
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Established in 1993, Piraeus Bank Bulgaria (PBB) was the first foreign bank in the country. It focuses on corporate banking, retail banking, offering financial services for SMEs, capital markets and investment banking.
The bank provides a range of products and services through its selected branch network. To better serve SME’s, PBB offers business centres in Sofia, Varna, Stara Zagora, Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Pleven and Ruse.
PBB would operate as a subsidiary of Postbank until the completion of the legal merger. Operational integration is expected to be completed in the near future, allowing PBB customers to use the expanded Postbank branch network.
Postbank said the transaction strengthens its position in the Bulgarian banking market with a pro-forma market share of more than 10%, ranking third in terms of total loans, and a better capital adequacy and liquidity.
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By GlobalDataPiraeus Bank CEO Christos Megalou said: “The Transaction represents the last major milestone towards the conclusion of Piraeus Bank’s Restructuring Plan commitments, as those were agreed with the European Commission. It has a positive impact on our capital base, enabling further the Bank’s capital enhancement strategy and focus on core banking operations.”
PBB had assets of around €1.5bn at the end of the first quarter of 2019, according to the Bulgarian central bank data. Postbank had €4.36bn in assets at the end of March 2019.
Eurobank deputy CEO, group COO and international activities Stavros Ioannou said: “The acquisition of PBB is a major milestone in implementing our strategy to focus on markets where we can have leading positions.”
Mediobanca served as financial adviser to Piraeus Bank for the transaction, while White & Case acted as international legal counsel and Boyanov & Co as local legal counsel of Piraeus Bank.
