Tigipko buys Idea Bank: details of the deal
18 October 2024 16:10
On Friday, 18 October, Getin Holding and TAS Group, owned by Ukrainian businessman and politician Serhiy Tihipko, signed an agreement to buy and sell 100% of Idea Bank Ukraine. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" reports with reference to Ekonomichna Pravda.
The buyer is Cyprus-based Alkemi Limited, a member of the TAS group. The transaction value is $34 million, but the amount may increase to $36 million, depending on the tax liabilities on bank profits.
“Idea Bank Ukraine specialises in retail banking and provides services primarily to individuals. Its main products include cash loans, credit cards, deposits, current accounts and debit cards.
As at 30 June 2024, the total balance sheet of Idea Bank was approximately $162 million.
Completion of the transaction is subject to the approval of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and the approval of the National Bank of Ukraine. The sale is subject to English law and the requirements of the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
If the transaction is not completed by 31 December 2024, Alkemi Limited will pay Getin Holding an additional USD 800 thousand for each full calendar month starting from January 2025.
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Sergiy Tigipko
Sergei Tigipko is a Ukrainian politician and entrepreneur born in 1960 in the Moldavian SSR. He graduated as a metallurgical engineer and holds a PhD in economics, and had a career in the Komsomol. In independent Ukraine, Tigipko held senior government positions, including deputy prime minister and head of the National Bank of Ukraine. In politics, he was a member of parliament, headed the Strong Ukraine party and ran for president twice.
Tigipko’s business activities are focused on the financial sector. He was one of the founders of PrivatBank and created the TAS financial and industrial group. Since 2016, Tigipko has been the owner of Universal Bank, which includes Monobank, and also owns TAScombank. His business interests span insurance and real estate, making him one of the richest Ukrainians according to Forbes, with an estimated net worth of $870 million in 2022.
Idea Bank
Founded in 1989, Idea Bank is one of the oldest commercial banks in Ukraine. In March 2024, it was ranked 26th among 63 operating banks in the country in terms of assets, which amounted to UAH 11.01 billion. At the end of 2023, the bank posted a net profit of UAH 509.9 million.
Since 2007, the main shareholder has been the Polish group Getin Holding S.A., which owns 99.6% of the shares. In 2019, it was announced that the bank was to be sold to Dragon Capital, an investment company. However, in June 2020, it became known that the deal did not go through due to the coronavirus pandemic, despite the permission received from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.
However, the Polish holding was still forced to sell the bank at the request of the NBU, as the owner of the holding, Leszek Czarnecki, lost the status of a person of impeccable reputation due to a criminal investigation in Poland. The regulator set the deadline for the sale at 29 October.
According to Forbes, in June 2024, TAS Group, Rinat Akhmetov’s FUIB and Nova Poshta showed interest in buying the bank.
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