Sberbank is buying the international unit of Österreichische Volksbanken (OVAG), excluding its Romanian unit, for between €585 million and €645 million, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Russian lender will buy ÖVAG’s 51 percent stake, as well as stakes from France’s Populaire Banque Caisse d’Epargne, Germany’s DZ Bank Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank and WGZ Bank.
As part of the acquisition, Sberbank will assume €2.5 billion in funding for Volksbank International that its shareholders provided and receive five-year funding of up to €500 million from OVAG. The purchase will give Sberbank 600,000 clients in Central and Eastern Europe.
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