October 16 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's central bank said that it has granted approval to Eurobank Bulgaria to absorb its recently acquired unit Piraeus Bank Bulgaria.
Eurobank Bulgaria will take on all assets and liabilities of Piraeus Bank Bulgaria, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) said in a statement late on Tuesday.
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
The shareholders of the two lenders approved the merger last month.
Eurobank Bulgaria, which operates under the Postbank brand, wrapped up the acquisition of Piraeus Bank Bulgaria from Greece's Piraeus Bank in June.
The two lenders hold a combined market share of 11.5% in terms of retail banking, and 9% regarding wholesale banking, making them the fourth largest player on both segments, according to data disclosed by the competition regulator earlier this year.
In November 2018, Eurobank signed an agreement to acquire Piraeus Bank Bulgaria. The value of Piraeus Bank Bulgaria's shares is 75 million euro ($82.8 million) and the transaction will have a limited effect on Eurobank's common equity tier 1 capital, Eurobank Bulgaria said at the time.
At the end of August, Eurobank Bulgaria was the country's fifth largest lender by assets, while Piraeus Bank Bulgaria was tenth, according to central bank data.
($ = 0.9060 euro)
Eurobank Bulgaria 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