Finally a bank deal to get rid of non-profit bringing subsidiaries. Qatar’s National Bank acquired the Finansbank stake of National Bank of Greece for €2.7 billion. The stake of National Bank in Turkey’s Finansbank was 99.81 percent. However, Greek media report that the acquisition price is much higher as the Qatar National Bank will pay the 910-million USD debt of Finansbank to the Greek lender.
“The closing of the transaction had been approved by the board of directors of both banks and the General Council of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund,” the QNB said in a statement adding that “The closing of the transaction, which was subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, was expected to be completed in the first half of 2016.”
On its part, the National Bank of Greece said that it will use “the proceeds to pay back 2 billion euros of aid it received from Greece’s bank rescue fund by issuing contingent convertible bonds (CoCos), saving about 150 million euros annually.”
NBG officials stressed that the deal will also help the Greek lender to reduce its dependence on emergency liquidity assistance from the Greek central bank, which is more costly than normal lending.
According to Greek media, interesting in acquiring Finansbank were next to Qatar National Bank (QNB), also the Turkish Fibabanka and Garanti Bank, and a Bank holding from China.
Consulting companies for the deal were Goldman Sachs International and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc, that act as financial advisers for the NBG HFreshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, as legal counselor for the NGB.
The National Bank of Qatar is considered as one of the strongest banks in Middle East.
In August 2006, the National Bank of Greece (NBG), the largest bank of Greece, back then, acquired 46% of the ordinary shares of Finansbank and 100% of the preferential shares of Finansbank from the Fiba Holding and affiliated companies for a total amount 2.774 billion US dollars. $452 million for preferential (founding) shares and $2.3 billion for the ordinary shares.
“As part of the sale agreement all the international branches and subsidiaries were split from Finansbank and established as a new separate company registered in the Netherlands. This company was renamed as Credit Europe Bank and ownership was transferred to FIBA Group the holding company owned by original bank founder Hüsnü Özyeğin. National Bank of Greece subsequently increased its shareholding to 77% taking full control of the Turkish bank.” (source)
PS and now we can all go home and decorate it for Christmas.
