April 24 (SeeNews) - Serbian lender Direktna Banka has said it completed the acquisition of the local banking and leasing operations of Greece's Piraeus Bank.
The integration of Piraeus Bank's operations will be completed in November 2018 and will lead to the expansion of the retail network of Direktna Banka by 50%, the Serbian lender said in a statement on Monday.
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All offices of Piraeus Bank in Serbia will operate under the Direktna Banka brand as of November 2018 when the assets of the Serbian lender will stand at 500 million euro ($609.8 million), the bank said.
Direktna Banka turned to a profit of 1.9 billion dinars ($19.6 million/16 million euro) in 2017 from a 278.6 million dinars loss in the previous year. In the first quarter of 2018, the bank recorded a profit of 118 million dinars, versus a loss of 77.7 million dinars in the like period of the previous year, Direktna Banka noted.
In October, Piraeus Bank said it agreed to sell its Serbian banking and leasing operations to Direktna Banka for a cash consideration of between 58 million euro and 61 million euro.
The exact consideration will depend on the financial performance of the divested assets until completion of the transaction and will include a combination of direct sale price and a simultaneous reduction of the capital of Piraeus Bank Beograd AD, the Greek lender said back then.
Serbia’s competition regulator approved the transaction in December.
($ = 0.81993 euro)