New York’s financial regulator fined Nordea 35 million dollars

The Italian international financial company “UniCredit” is also interested in buying a significant part of the bank “Luminor” operating in the Baltic States, which is currently owned by the US investment company “Blackstone” , according to the business news agency “Bloomberg”.

The information at hand shows that UniCredit has submitted its offer to Blackstone to acquire Luminor, thus competing with Hungary’s largest bank Orszagos Takarek Penztar (OTP), at are also interested in getting a bank.

Currently, it is not clear what part of the bank “Luminor” plans to buy from “UniCredit” – all shares with “Blackstone” or just enough to gain control of this Baltic financial institution. “Blackstone” has a controlling ownership in “Luminor” with 80.05%. stock. The remaining 19.95% of the shares belong to the Norwegian bank DNB.

The acquisition of Luminor would be part of UniCredit’s strategy to expand into fast growing markets in Eastern and Northern Europe. On June 12, the European Commission agreed to acquire sole control by “UniCredit” in the Romanian “Alpha Bank Romania”. Brussels decided that the agreement would not raise competition concerns given the low market position of the companies involved.

UniCredit is an Italian global banking and finance company operating in 50 countries with more than 8,500 branches and 147,000 employees. Its strategic position in Western and Eastern Europe gives it one of the largest market shares in the region. The company’s shares are included in the stock market index “Euro Stoxx 50”.

At the beginning of May, it was reported that the largest bank in Hungary OTP, which also operates in Russia, wants to buy “Luminor Banca”, which operates in the Baltic States, the group “Bloomberg ” reports, citing unnamed sources.

OTP has made a non-binding offer for the purchase of “Luminor” to the US investment company “Blackstone”.

In January, the media said that “Blackstone” wants to sell “Luminor” and that the transaction could happen already this year.

According to “Bloomberg”, “Blackstone” wants to receive 1.2 times more than the value of the balance for “Luminor”. The balance sheet value of “Luminor” at the end of 2023 was 1.8 billion euros, so the sale price is estimated at 2.1 billion euros.

OTP operates not only in Hungary, but also in Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Russia, Montenegro, Moldova, Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

“Luminor Bank” was established in October 2017 by the merger of “Nordea Bank” and DNB in ​​the Baltic States, and at the beginning of January 2019, the cross-border merger of “Luminor Bank” was completed, with the bank. continues to operate with the head office in Estonia and branches in Latvia and Lithuania.

In 2018, the US investment company “Blackstone” became a strategic investor of “Luminor Bank” by purchasing a controlling share. The investment in the capital of “Luminor Bank” is planned for a term of five to seven years, with the possibility of extension, said Nils Melngailis, chairman of the board of directors of “Luminor Group”, in an interview with the LETA group. at the time.

In terms of assets, the Latvian branch of “Luminor Bank” is the fourth largest bank in Latvia.