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Weekly Lists
January 18, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 28
bne:Banker OTP closes acquisition
of SocGen's Bulgarian unit
Hungary’s largest lender OTP Bank announced on January 16 that it has closed the acquisition of the Bulgarian unit of France's Societe Generale Group.
OTP will make the acquisition in Bulgaria through its local unit DSK Bank, the country's second-biggest bank. Societe Generale Expressbank has a market share of about 6.7%, making it Bulgaria's seventh-biggest bank.
The Hungarian lender will further strengthen its market position in Bulgaria and boost its market share to 19% after the acquisition. UniCredit is the largest lender on the market with a 19.5% share.
OTP also said it is in talks with the French lender on entering into a services agreement on providing mutual services in Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Hungary. These services would include investment banking, capital markets, financing, and global transaction banking.
Uzbekistan’s Asaka Bank and Germany’s AKA Bank signed a $150mn financing agreement on January 14, UzDaily news agency reported. Under the deal, Asaka will receive loans with a maturity of up to eight years in order to fund exports of equipment from Germany and other EU countries.
The agreement was signed as part of an Uzbek-German business forum in Berlin held ahead of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s official visit to Germany.
The National Bank of Uzbekistan For Foreign Economic Activity (NBU) and Germany's KfW IPEX-Bank also signed a loan agree- ment worth €100mn on January 14. The funding will be used for purchasing equipment and services from Germany and other countries of the European Union.
Atlas Bank – one of two Montenegrin banks that had to suspend payments in December due to their poor financial condition – will resume the operations on January 24, broadcaster RTCG reported on January 17.
Atlas Banka and Invest Banka Montenegro (IBM) were put
under temporary administration by the central bank as its audit showed that the capital of the two lenders did not comply with the minimum risk requirements.
Uzbekistan’s Asaka Bank and NBU secure German loans
Montenegro’s troubled Atlas Bank to resume payments