According to several press sources, Sberbank will acquire DenizBank for a total consideration of $ 3.6bn or € 2.9bn. and Sberbank will announce the results of the talks today, DenizBank said in a filing with the Istanbul Stock Exchange.
and Sberbank launched exclusive talks in late May to forge a deal. Sberbank is pursuing expansion abroad. If completed, the acquisition will be the banking giant's second purchase outside the former Soviet Union. In February, it bought Volksbank International, which operates in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Ukraine.
Sberbank is the first Russian lender to buy a bank in Turkey, joining , UniCredit and Inc. in a country where the economy expanded 8.5% last year. The deal would be the largest in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa this year and the biggest in Turkey since Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria bought 24.9 % of Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS for $ 5.8bn in March last year.
The sale price of $ 3.6bn or € 2.9bn corresponds to 1.33 times DenizBank’s book value. As a reminder, paid $ 3.1bn for 96% of DenizBank in 2006. For comparison reasons: Turkiye Garanti, the biggest listed bank by market value in Turkey, trades at 1.39 times book value. Akbank TAS, part-owned by , has a price to book ratio of 1.24. Turkiye Is Bankasi, the country’s biggest bank by assets, trades at 0.95 times book.
Conclusion:
The price offered matches the valuations that were circulating for some months and does not constitute a surprise. We believe that the proceeds of the sale are likely to be used to cut further the links with Belfius (Dexia's former retail bank in Belgium) which is one of the priorities that has been set for the Group. still faces the challenge to secure € 90bn of state guarantees with a remuneration that allows it to have a positive carry on the run-off book and hence a viable business model.
We maintain our Reduce rating and € 0.10 target.