OREANDA-NEWS.  Sberbank Europe Banking Group (Sberbank Europe AG, 100% owned by Russian Sberbank) has signed an agreement on the sale of its subsidiary credit institutions in Central and Eastern Europe. This was reported by the press service of the bank.

"Sberbank Europe AG has decided to reduce its presence in Central and Eastern Europe in order to focus on priority markets and explore new business models," it was said in a statement.

Sberbank Europe will sell subsidiaries of credit institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sberbank BH d.d. Sarajevo and Sberbank a.d. Banja Luka), Croatia (Sberbank d.d.), Hungary (Sberbank Magyarország Zrt.), Serbia (Sberbank Srbija a.d. Beograd) and Slovenia (Sberbank banka d.d.). The total size of their assets is estimated at 7.33 billion euros. At the end of 2020 they had 162 branches and about 600,000 customers.

The agreement was signed with the group of companies AIK Banka a.d. Beograd, Gorenjska Banka d.d., Kranj and Agri Europe Cyprus Limited. AIK Banka is the main asset of the AEC Ltd. banking group, which is part of the large Serbian diversified holding MK Group, the press service of Sberbank said. The latter is also engaged in agricultural business, hotels and real estate. It is noted that AIK Banka is already operating in this part of Europe and is striving to expand its presence in accordance with its long—term strategy - to become one of the leading banking groups in Southeastern Europe.

The total amount of the transaction will be approximately 500 million euros, including the sale of shares and the replacement of financing provided by the Savings Bank, the report says. The closing of the transaction must be approved by local and international regulators, as well as regional antimonopoly agencies. The deal is expected to be approved in 2022.