September 29 (SeeNews) - Belgian lender KBC has expressed interest in acquiring Bulgaria's fourth-largest bank by assets, United Bulgarian Bank (UBB), Belgian media reported on Thursday.
KBC has contracted international financial company JP Morgan to help it with the procedure, according to the online edition of newspaper L'Echo.
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"Before the economic crisis (in 2008), KBC was banned from taking part in acquisitions by the European authorities as the bank was engaged in decentralisation. The ban was cancelled in November 2014 but the bank has not been a part of a major deal yet [...]," L'Echo.
United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) is part of the financial group of the National Bank of Greece.
In Bulgaria, KBC owns CIBank and insurance company DZI.
UBB ranked the fourth largest among banks in Bulgaria as of end-July. The bank had total assets of 7.0 billion levs ($4.0 billion/3.57 billion euro) as of end-June, according to data from Bulgaria's central bank.
The country has 22 banks and five branches of foreign banks.
United Bulgarian Bank AD is among the biggest banks in SEE. You can download our SEE Top 100 ranking
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