SOFIA (Bulgaria), May 16 (SeeNews) – Belgium's KBC Group said on Tuesday its after-tax profit from Bulgarian operations fell to 4 million euro ($4.4 million) in the first quarter, from 5 million euro in the like period of 2016.
KBC Group owns CIBank and insurance company DZI in Bulgaria.
The group confirmed its earlier statement it expects to close the deal for the acquisition of Bulgaria's fourth-largest bank by assets - United Bulgarian Bank (UBB), and leasing company Interlease from National Bank of Greece in the second quarter of the year, KBC said in its Q1 2017 financial report.
“After the acquisition of UBB and Interlease, UBB-CIBank and DZI will become the largest bank-insurance group in Bulgaria with a substantial increase in profit contribution,” KBC said.
KBC's total revenues from operations in Bulgaria rose to 22 million euro in the review period, from 21 million euro the year before.
The group net interest income in Bulgaria fell to 12 million euro in the first quarter, compared to 13 million euro in the like period of 2016.
KBC's revenues from both life and non-life insurance in Bulgaria stayed flat at 1 million euro and 10 million euro, respectively, compared to the first quarter of 2016. Operating expenses in Bulgaria rose to 16 million euro in the first quarter of 2017, from 15 million euro in the corresponding period of last year.
Bulgaria's competition authority said last month it granted approval to KBC to acquire 99.91% of UBB and 100% of Interlease from National Bank of Greece (NBG). The deal is also subject to authorisation by the National Bank of Belgium/the European Central Bank, and anti-trust approval.
In December 2016, KBC Group said it had entered into a definitive agreement with NBG for the acquisition of UBB and Interlease for a total consideration of 610 million euro.
($ = 0.9046 euro)
United Bulgarian Bank AD is among the biggest banks in SEE. You can download our SEE Top 100 ranking
here or subscribe to our free Top 100 newsletter
here