TIRANA (Albania), February 5 (SeeNews) – Greek lender National Bank of Greece (NBG) said it has agreed to sell its subsidiary in Albania to American Bank of Investments (ABI), a unit of Albania's Tranzit.
“The transaction is being implemented in the context of NBG’s Restructuring Plan and in-line with its commitments towards European Commission’s DG Competition,” the bank said in a press release on Friday.
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The bank also said that the transaction is capital accretive to NBG and is subject to customary regulatory and other approvals, including from Albania's central bank and the country's competition authority.
“UBS Limited is acting as exclusive financial advisor to NBG. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and CR Partners are acting as international and local legal counsels, respectively, to NBG. Kerameus & Partners is acting as legal counsel to ABI,” the statement added.
NBG Albania started operating in Albania in 1996 as the Tirana branch of NBG. In 2012, it became a fully-licensed, independent bank and since then it operates as a 100%-owned subsidiary of NBG.
ABI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tranzit, an Albanian non-banking financial institution focused on providing flexible financing options to companies and individuals. ABI is licensed to perform credit and deposit activities, payment services in Albania and abroad as well as other banking activities in accordance with Albanian laws.
In June, Belgium's KBC Group completed the acquisition of NBG's subsidiary United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) and leasing company Interlease in Bulgaria for a total consideration of 610 million euro.
In December, Hungarian banking group OTP said it completed the acquisition of Serbia's Vojvodjanska Banka and NBG Leasing from NBG through OTP banka Srbija.
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