Romania’s biggest deals in 2016: Banking/Financial Services/Insurance

Newsroom 01/03/2017 | 16:11

Here are the main deals in the food and beverages sectors that were registered last year. For a forecast regarding the mergers and acquisition market in 2017, you can read this exclusive article.

BANKING

Forte Partners secures EUR 50 mln from UniCredit Bank for The Bridge project

Value of transaction: EUR 50 million

Legal team buyer: Reff & Associates, acting for Forte Partners

Legal team seller: Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii, acting for UniCredit Bank

Description: Real estate investor consortium Forte Partners announced the construction start for The Bridge office project near the Basarab overpass, with the investment for the first phase reaching EUR 50 million. The business park will be erected in two phases on 15, Orhideelor Street, on the site of the former bread factory, Spicul.

 

APS Holding acquires NPL portfolio in Romania

Value of transaction: EUR 1.07 billion (the nominal value of the NPL portfolio)

Legal team buyer: Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii

Legal team seller: Schoenherr

Description: APS Holding has acquired a portfolio of non-performing loans (NPLs), which includes secured and unsecured corporate and SME loans, with the secured positions held against mostly residential, commercial and industrial property. The investors are the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, APS, a distressed debt investment and recovery company, and other global institutional investors. The transaction is the largest ever of its type in South Eastern Europe.

 

IFC and Kruk acquire retail NPLs from Bancpost

Value of transaction: EUR 597 million

Legal team buyer: Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații, acting as legal advisor for International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Polish debt collection company Kruk

Legal team seller: CMS Cameron McKenna

Description: The IFC and Polish debt collection company Kruk have agreed to purchase a EUR 597 million portfolio of NPLs from Bancpost and other subsidiaries of Greece’s Eurobank Group in Romania. The move was aimed to help speed up the resolution of NPLs and increase the liquidity of the banking sector in Romania and the region. The transaction is part of the IFC’s Debt and Asset Recovery Program (DARP), which focuses on the acquisition and resolution of NPLs and the restructuring of small and medium enterprises.

 

APS Holding buys NPL portfolio from Intesa Sanpaolo Romania

Value of transaction: EUR 261 million (portfolio size)

Legal team buyer: Savin si Asociatii, Dinulescu si Maxim, Cunescu Balaciu si Asociatii

Legal team seller: Reff & Associates, Deloitte (financial)

Description: APS Holding, one of the most active managers of performing and non-performing loans in Romania, took over an NPL portfolio worth EUR 261 million from Intesa Sanpaolo Romania.

 

Kruk buys NPL portfolio from Piraeus Bank

Value of transaction: EUR 161 million (portfolio size)

Legal team buyer: N/A

Legal team seller: Reff & Associates

Description: Kruk acquired an NPL portfolio of EUR 161 million from Piraeus Bank. The lender registered a gross profit of EUR 3.8 million in the first nine months of 2016, compared to a loss in the same period of 2015.

 

Banca Transilvania buys performing loans portfolio from Bank of Cyprus

Value of transaction: N/A

Legal team buyer: PeliFilip

Legal team seller: Reff & Associates

Description: Banca Transilvania took over the retail performing loans portfolio from Bank of Cyprus. Banca Transilvania, the third biggest lender by assets in Romania, registered a net profit of RON 657 million in the first nine months of 2016, almost double the amount in the previous year.

 

Nextebank (Patria Bank) acquires 54.7 percent of Banca Carpatica

Value of transaction: EUR 50 million

Legal team buyer: N/A

Legal team seller: Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii, acting as legal advisor to Nextebank

Description: Nextebank’s acquisition of over half of Banca Carpatica further strengthens Nextebank’s (currently Patria Bank) position on the Romanian financial services market and marks one of the few deals in the banking sector taking place between two lenders.

 

Erste Group Bank AG creates joint venture with Global Payments

Value of transaction: N/A

Legal team: CMS for Erste Group, Alston Bird – English law counsel to Global Payments / Kinstellar – local law advice in CEE

Description: Austrian Erste Group Bank entered into a joint venture with Global Payments Inc., a leading worldwide provider of payment technology solutions, to provide merchant acquiring and payment processing services to retailers in Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

 

INSURANCE

Vienna Insurance Group buys AXA Life Insurance Romania

Value of transaction: N/A

Legal team buyer: Schoenherr, Deloitte (financial)

Legal team seller: CMS Cameron McKenna

Description: Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) bought AXA Life Insurance in Romania. AXA entered into an agreement with VIG to sell its local life and savings insurance operations, marking its exit from Romania. BCR Asigurari de Viata and Omniasig were the buyers.

 

Fairfax buys AIG business in Romania and other CEE countries

Value of transaction: USD 240 million

Legal team buyer: Dentons

Legal team seller: N/A

Description: Canada-based Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited acquired insurance operations from American International Group (AIG) in various jurisdictions including Romania. Following this deal, Fairfax will become the main strategic multinational network partner serving AIG’s global clients in these countries.

 

Fairfax buys insurance subsidiaries in Romania from Eurobank Group

Value of transaction: EUR 316 million

Legal team buyer: N/A

Legal team seller: CMS, Shearman & Sterling

Description: Eurobank Group sold two insurance subsidiaries in Romania (Eurolife ERB Insurance Group Holdings) to Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, part of the wider disposal of the group’s global insurance business. Fairfax acquired 80 percent of Eurolife from Eurobank for EUR 316 million, while Eurobank will retain a 20 percent stake.

 

FINANCIAL SERVICES

RP Explorer sells minority stake in Access Financial Services

Value of transaction: N/A

Legal team buyer: N/A

Legal team seller: Zamfirescu Racoti & Partners

Description: RP Explorer (Netherlands) sold a minority stake of the shares held in Access Financial Services IFN, a Romanian nonbanking financial institution acting in the field of SME financing.

 

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