SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 6 (SeeNews) – Bulgaria’s United Bulgarian Bank (UBB), majority owned by Belgium's KBC Group, said on Wednesday its shareholders have approved a proposal to absorb CIBANK, a wholly-owned Bulgarian subsidiary of the KBC Group.
UBB’s capital will be increased by 17.87 million levs ($10.8 million/9.1 million euro) after it absorbs CIBANK, UBB told SeeNews in an e-mailed statement.
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Currently, UBB’s capital stands at 75.96 million levs, according to data from the commercial register.
The deal is still pending approval from Bulgaria’s central bank.
CIBANK and UBB are expected to fully complete merging their processes by the end of 2018, the CEO of both banks and country manager for KBC, Petar Andronov, told SeeNews last month.
In October, the two Bulgarian lenders signed an agreement under which UBB will absorb CIBANK. Under the terms of the agreement, CIBANK shares will be converted into shares in UBB at a ratio of 1:0.78419, CIBANK said in a filing to the country’s commercial register at the time.
After absorbing CIBANK, UBB will become Bulgaria’s third largest bank by assets after UniCredit Bulbank and DSK Bank.
In 2007, KBC Group acquired 75% of Cibank, and in 2010 increased its shareholding interest to 100%.
In June 2017, KBC Group completed the acquisition of UBB and leasing company Interlease from National Bank of Greece for a total consideration of 610 million euro.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)