August 7 (SeeNews) - Serbia's competition authority has given the green light to Czech-based investment group PPF to acquire a 100% holding in Serbia-based Telenor Banka, part of Norway's Telenor Group, media reported on Tuesday.
When assessing the effects of the concentration, the anti-trust regulator found that PPF Group was not present on the Serbian market prior to its take-over of Telenor Banka, nor did it generate revenues on that market, Serbian news portal Ekapija reported, citing information from the Commission for Protection of Competition.
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In June, Norway's Telenor Group said it has entered into an agreement to sell 100% of Telenor Banka to PPF Group.
In 2013, Telenor acquired 100% of KBC Banka in Serbia. A year later, it launched Telenor Banka as the first mobile and online bank in Serbia. After almost four years of operation, Telenor Banka has more than 390,000 customers.
PPF Group operates in 22 countries across three continents and is the largest private investment group in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It invests into multiple market segments such as banking and financial services, telecommunications, biotechnology, insurance, real estate, mining and agriculture.
In March, Telenor said it has agreed to sell its assets in CEE to PPF, with the transaction including Telenor's wholly-owned mobile operations in Hungary, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia.