DUBAI: Dubai’s largest lender Emirates NBD will buy Turkey’s Denizbank from Russia’s state-owned Sberbank for less in dollar terms than previously agreed following the devaluation of the Turkish lira.
Emirates NBD will buy Turkey’s fifth largest private bank for $2.8 billion (15.48 billion lira), the Dubai bank said on Wednesday, compared to the 14.6 billion lira announced in May, after reaching a new agreement with Sberbank.
Although the lira value is higher, the dollar value in May when the deal was announced was put at the equivalent of $3.2 billion, or about $400 million more that the new price.
The lira has tumbled over concerns about the central bank’s independence and Ankara’s worsening ties with Washington.
Dubai-based Arqaam Capital said the new deal represents a 16 percent discount from the original acquisition price due to the lira’s depreciation
Russia’s biggest bank by assets bought Denizbank in 2012 for about $3.5 billion when it wanted to establish a presence abroad. Selling Denizbank, the biggest asset held by Sberbank outside Russia, is part of a shift back to the domestic market.
Denizbank’s equity amounted to 15.51 billion lira as of December 31, Emirates NBD said in a bourse statement.
The deal will help Emirates NBD diversify its business and establish itself as a leading bank in the region, the bank’s vice chairman Hesham Abdulla Al-Qassim said in May.
The deal is expected to close by the end of the second quarter, subject to regulatory approval, Emirates NBD said.
