business.ua
Alfa Group's ABH Holdings S.A. has entered into exclusive negotiations with UniCredit Group regarding the acquisition of its Ukrainian subsidiary, UniCredit Bank (Ukrsotsbank).
"UniCredit Group (UCG) and Luxemburg based ABH Holdings S.A. (ABHH) announce that they are entering into a three-month exclusive negotiation following the signing of a memorandum of understanding regarding the potential sale of UCG's bank in Ukraine (Public Joint Stock Company Ukrosotsbank) in exchange for a minority stake in ABHH," a posting on UCG’s website reads.
UCG is being advised by Rothschild and UniCredit Corporate & Investment Banking.
ABHH Chairman Petr Aven said in a separate statement that the deal would enable the holding company "to create a leading retail and wholesale banking player in Ukraine with an unparalleled platform for growth and development," Reuters reported.
He welcomed UniCredit, which operates in 17 European countries, as a partner and hoped to use its experience to grow ABHH internationally, according to the report.
As UNIAN reported earlier, last week Deutsche Welle reported with reference to Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bank Austria, which consolidates East European assets of the international financial group UniCredit, that the group intends to sell its subsidiary bank in Ukraine, UniCredit Bank, by the end of the year. Bank Austria has been planning to sell its Ukrainian subsidiary since the beginning of 2014, but could not find a buyer. The price of the deal has not been disclosed, however, according to the publication, UniCredit will unlikely be able to recover EUR 1.5 billion in investment spent on the acquisition of the Ukrainian bank in 2008.
UniCredit Bank was set up through a merger of two subsidiary banks of UniCredit Group in Ukraine – UniCredit Bank and Ukrsotsbank. The process of banks integration was completed in December 2013 and the bank continued its operations under the name UniCredit Bank and was one of the largest financial institutions in Ukraine in terms of assets.
ABHH, part of Russia's Alfa Group, is a privately-owned company that invests in several banking groups in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.