May 3 (SeeNews) - French banking group Societe Generale said on Friday that is has signed an agreement for the sale of Slovenia's SKB Banka and its subsidiaries SKB Leasing and SKB Leasing Select to Hungary's OTP Bank.
"The sale of SKB Banka is expected to have a positive impact on the Group’s CET1 ratio of around 7 basis points and to reduce the Group’s risk weighted assets by around 2.3 billion euro," Societe Generale said in a statement.
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The deal will also have a negative impact of 67 million euro ($74.8 million) on Societe Generale's first-half 2019 results, due to goodwill impairment.
Slovenia will be part of the cooperation agreement signed between the two banking groups, which encompasses the provision of mutual services in various fields.
"I welcome the strategic agreement reached with OTP which will allow us to continue to serve our clients in Slovenia and in many Balkan countries in various fields including investment banking, capital markets, corporate banking, cash and liquidity management," Philippe Heim, deputy chief executive officer of Societe Generale Group, said in the statement.
The completion of the transaction is subject to obtaining approval from Slovenia's central bank, the European Central Bank and the respective antitrust authorities.
Last month, Slovenian daily Dnevnik reported that OTP placed the best bid for Slovenia's third-largest lender Abanka, offering to pay about 300 million euro. Subsequently, OTP Bank debunked the report, saying it has not yet placed a final offer for the acquisition of a 100% shareholding interest in the Slovenian state-owned banking group.
Earlier this year, OTP Bank wrapped up the acquisition of Societe Generale's units in Albania and Bulgaria. In February, OTP also signed agreements to acquire Societe Generale's unit in Moldova, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
($ = 0.8958 euro)
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