According to Hungarian news agency MTI, Sándor Csányi has stated that OTP plans to focus on consolidating its holding of banks recently purchased in Eastern Europe, but in Russia, where it lately bought Investsberbank, it was eyeing a new acquisition target. No further details were given.
Our view: Since OTP Bank already owns Investsberbank in Russia, a new acquisition could be strategically positive, adding scale and providing potential synergy. Of course, ultimately the price of any new purchase will also be a key consideration for the market. We expect the news to have mildly positive impact on the stock price today.