March 29 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's central bank said that it has granted preliminary approval to Eurobank Bulgaria to acquire a 99.9819% stake in Piraeus Bank Bulgaria.
Following the acquisition, Piraeus Bank Bulgaria will become a subsidiary of Eurobank Bulgaria and part of Greece's Eurobank Ergasias group, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) said in a statement on Thursday.
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In November 2018, Eurobank signed an agreement to acquire Piraeus Bank Bulgaria from Greek peer Piraeus Bank.
The value of Piraeus Bank Bulgaria's shares is 75 million euro ($85.8 million) and the transaction will have limited effect on Eurobank's common equity tier 1 capital, Eurobank Bulgaria, which operates under the Postbank brand, said at the time.
Following the acquisition, Eurobank Bulgaria will have a market share of over 10% and will be the third largest lender in terms of credit portfolio, the lender said in November. Eurobank Bulgaria's assets will grow to over 5 billion euro and its capital will exceed 600 million euro, it added at the time.
At the end of January, Eurobank Bulgaria was the country's fifth largest lender by assets, while Piraeus Bank Bulgaria ranked 10th, according to the latest available BNB data.
($ = 0.8741 euro)
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