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4 I Companies & Markets bne May 2021
Air Bank has positioned itself as a challenger to the traditional banks.
Air Bank poised to fly to top of Czech banking
Robert Anderson in Prague
Air Bank, the fast-growing Czech neo-bank owned by the recently deceased Czech billionaire Petr Kellner, is close to swallowing the larger listed Moneta Money Bank, which would make it one of the biggest banks in the highly profitable Czech market.
Kellner’s privately-held PPF Group bought close to 29%
of Moneta for Czech koruna (CZK) 11.3bn (€435 mn) in a CZK80/share public offer in early March that was backed by the managers of the larger bank, ranked sixth in the market by assets. PPF has also proposed a merger with its unlisted online retail start-up Air Bank, ranked eighth by assets, which would end up giving it close to 60% of the combined group.
But the merger has now been thrown into doubt by the billionaire’s death in a helicopter crash in Alaska on March 27, with Czech media speculating that it could now be called off or modified. Moneta’s shares have fallen more than 2% since trading opened on Monday, March 29.
PPF executives insist that their plans are unchanged and that Kellner’s long-term dream of building a strong Czech bank will be fulfilled. “PPF will continue to work on its projects according to the plans and visions set out by Petr Kellner. This
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is the right way forward and it is what Petr would have wished for,” Ladislav Bartonicek, who has taken over as interim CEO, told PPF staff in a letter.
Air Bank CEO Michal Strcula, who has led the bank from the start, confirmed that the plan remains the same. “Ultimately, it will be on both Air Bank and Moneta shareholders to agree, but the primary driver of the transaction is that it makes sense. Therefore the transaction is still going forward,” he said.
It nevertheless remains unclear whether PPF would be more ready to raise the acquisition price if necessary, now that Kellner, who was used to getting his way, is no longer in charge.
The two banks are now carrying out due diligence on each other, with the results expected in mid April. PPF might then need just another 15% of shareholders in order to give it the 75% majority to approve the merger, assuming that only 60% of shareholders vote at the general meeting. This would give PPF control of the combined bank.
Assuming the merger does go through, the rise of Air Bank will be an earthquake for the Czech banking system. The combined banking group will have a total of 2.5 million customers in a