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UniCredit has struck its first deal since veteran banker Andrea Orcel took the helm of the Italian lender in 2021, offering to buy a 9 per cent shareholding in Greece’s Alpha Bank and taking a majority stake in its Romanian unit.
The acquisition of the stake in Alpha Bank, which the Greek state must approve, would mark the first investment in a Greek lender by another European bank since before the financial crisis plunged the country’s banking sector into turmoil.
UniCredit has offered to buy the shares from the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, the country’s bank recapitalisation fund set up during the sovereign debt crisis.
Orcel said on a call with journalists that “for the time being and for the foreseeable future this is the best alliance we could have struck”. UniCredit’s and Alpha Bank’s merged operations will become the third-largest lender in Romania.
Analysts say the chief executive had been under pressure to announce a deal for some time. Last month, Orcel told a banking conference he would look for smaller-scale opportunities to expand UniCredit’s presence in key markets where it is already present.
UniCredit is one of the largest banking players in central and eastern Europe with a large presence in Germany, Austria, Poland, Croatia and Romania. It also still owns a lender in Russia.
UniCredit will pay €300mn in cash for Alpha Bank’s Romanian operations and will merge them with its local subsidiary. Alpha Bank will retain close to 10 per cent of the combined entity. The deal, which is set to close next year, is expected to add €100mn in net profit to UniCredit’s balance sheet, the banks said.
The price of the 9 per cent stake in Alpha Bank was not disclosed, but based on Friday’s closing price analysts said it was worth about €270mn. Orcel said the rationale for the investment in the Greek lender was to support product partnerships, “not more”.
However, the investment was hailed in Greece as a milestone for the country’s banking sector. Greek finance minister Kostis Hatzidakis said: “The fact that a major European bank is investing in the Greek banking system after many years is proof that both the Greek banking sector and the Greek economy have entered a path of perspective and growth.”
It comes days after S&P Global upgraded Greece’s credit rating to investment grade for the first time since the 2010 debt crisis, the first of the big three rating firms to do so.
“It’s a great start to the disinvestment process and a reflection of Greece’s regained credibility and growth opportunities,” said Alex Patelis, chief economic adviser to Greece’s prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
UniCredit reports third-quarter earnings on Tuesday.
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