UniCredit SpA, a subsidiary of the Italian financial group UniCredit Group, has applied to acquire Luminor, the Estonian subsidiary of Blackstone Inc. This is reported by foreign media.
At the beginning of 2024, Blackstone announced the start of the Luminor sale process, requesting remuneration 1.2 times the book value of the company, which at the end of December 2023 amounted to 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion) of equity.
UniCredit acts as a competitor to the largest Hungarian bank OTP Bank Nyrt, which in May 2024 sent a non-binding offer to acquire Luminor, hoping through the transaction to gain access to the banking markets of three countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) with highly developed digital technologies and banking systems.
UniCredit has included Luminor in the list of potential takeover targets in accordance with its strategy aimed at strengthening the bank's position in Central and Eastern Europe through the reorganization of the bank, the redistribution of capital among shareholders and the acquisition of assets. The acquisition of Luminor would allow UniCredit to become one of the largest banks in the region in addition to its already significant presence in Eastern Europe.
Blackstone acquired a controlling stake in UniCredit for 1 billion euros from Scandinavian lenders Nordea Bank Abp and DNB Bank ASA in 2019. DNB Bank owns a minority stake in UniCredit.
UniCredit SpA is the parent bank of the UniCredit Group, one of the largest European banking groups in Central and Eastern Europe. UniCredit offers a wide range of products and services in the field of retail, business, corporate and investment banking, as well as asset management based on a fully integrated multi-channel banking model combining traditional and digital operations. The headquarters is located in Milan (Italy).
Luminor is a commercial bank widely represented in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Luminor offers deposits and loans to businesses and individuals in the Baltic region. The headquarters is located in Tallinn (Estonia).
Blackstone is an American alternative investment management company headquartered in New York (USA). Blackstone is the largest real estate company. The company has offices in London, Paris, Dusseldorf, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Madrid, Mumbai and Dubai.
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