The National Bank has finally given its consent to Serhiy Tigipko’s TAS Group to acquire Idea Bank
23 April 08:49
The National Bank of Ukraine has given its consent to the indirect acquisition of 100% of Idea Bank (Lviv) by TAS Group owner Serhiy Tigipko. This was reported by Interfax-Ukraine with reference to the stock exchange announcement of the seller, Polish Getin Holding SA, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
“Thus, another condition for the transfer of ownership of shares in Idea Bank Ukraine, as set out in the agreement, was fulfilled,” Getin Holding said.
On March 14 and 27, Getin Holding reported that due to the need to verify the submitted documents and information, the NBU extended the deadline for making a decision on approving the sale and purchase agreement for Idea Bank for another 30 working days.
What is known about the sale of Idea Bank
This is the third attempt to sell the bank. The first two with the participation of Dragon Capital and FUIB were unsuccessful due to the pandemic and the war.
In October 2024, the board of Getin and Tigipko’s TAS Group signed a sale and purchase agreement for Idea Bank. The base amount of the transaction was $34 million. In the same month, Getin received a decision from the NBU to extend the six-month deadline for the sale of Idea Bank to the end of January 2025.
On December 12, 2024, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine granted Tigipko’s TAS Group a merger clearance for the deal, and at the end of January 2025, the National Bank of Ukraine announced that it had received a package of documents from Tigipko to approve the purchase of Idea Bank.
What is known about Idea Bank
Idea Bank (formerly Prykarpatlisbank, until 2011 – Plus Bank) was founded in 1989 and is one of the oldest banks in Ukraine.
In June 2007, the Polish financial group Getin Holding S.A. of billionaire Leszek Czarnecki became the sole shareholder of Idea Bank. At the time of the acquisition, the bank was valued at more than three times the capital, at that time – UAH 103 million. As of June 30, 2024, the total balance sheet of Idea Bank amounted to almost $162 million.
In March 2023, the NBU recognized the reputation of the Polish shareholder of Idea Bank as not impeccable and set a deadline for him to eliminate violations of banking legislation – one year from the date of the decision. After he failed to do so, the NBU ordered the shareholder to sell the bank.
Idea Bank operates in the retail banking segment and focuses on servicing individuals. Its main products are cash loans, credit cards, deposits, current accounts and debit cards.
As of March 1, 2025, total assets of Idea Bank amounted to UAH 12.68 billion, or 0.34% of the total assets of the banking system. By this indicator, it was 27th among 60 Ukrainian banks.
What is known about TAS Group?
TAS Group is one of the largest financial and industrial groups in Ukraine, which is represented in banking, insurance, car building, metallurgy, packaging materials, logistics, agriculture, food industry and real estate.
The group owns Universal Bank and TAScombank with assets of UAH 157.12 billion (4.18%) and UAH 45.39 billion (1.21%), respectively, as of the beginning of March this year. They rank 8th and 15th in the market by this indicator.
