October 31 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian industrial and financial group Alfa Finance Holding acquired 98.3% of Macedonia's International Private Bank (IPB) for eight million euro ($11.6 million), an IPB official said on Wednesday.
“Alfa Finance Holding acquired 98.3% of IPB Bank’s shares and the price per share was 18,973 denars ($445.2/308 euro),” the official, who declined to be named, told SeeNews.
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
The Macedonian central bank said two weeks ago it had endorsed the acquisition.
Alfa Finance Holding officials were not immediately available to comment.
IPB is one of the seven small banks in Macedonia, each with assets of less than 2.0 billion denars ($40.2 mln/32.8 mln euro). Eighteen banks operate in the ex-Yugoslav republic of two million people. IPB is licensed for domestic operations only.
Before the acquisition IPB was owned by 11 corporate stockholders, each having a stake not larger than 10%.
Alfa Finance Holding owns one of the leading Bulgarian brokerages, Bulbrokers. It also owns Bulgaria's sole kaolin and silica sand producer Kaolin, and operates in the real estate and telecommunications sectors. Alfa Finance Holding is also active in Bulgarian neighbours Serbia, Turkey and Romania, and in Ukraine.
($= 0.6924 euro)