Getin Holding buys Romanian International Bank

Polish bank Getin Holding announced yesterday the purchase of Romanian International Bank (RIB) for an undisclosed sum, states Reuters. That was the only statement the bank made in this respect, avoiding any further comments on the subject.

The Polish group has been legally assisted in this transaction by Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii. The law firm supported the completion of a legal audit on RIB, the defining and structuring of the contractual framework, as well as the negotiation of the afferent documents. However, the transaction has not been carried out yet, depending on the approval from the Romanian financial authorities.

Tuca, Zbarcea & Asociatii will continue to provide legal support for Getin Holding during the next period when the contractual documents will be implemented, the law firm informs through a news release.

‘The project has been a challenge for our team given the extremely short calendar for concluding the documents of the transaction. We are pleased to provide legal assistance to a very active Polish group on the mergers and acquisitions market in the banking sector in Central and Eastern Europe.’ Cristian Radu, Managing Associate at Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii said.

Getin Holding, which is controlled by Polish businessman Leszek Czarnecki seeks to expand its operation in the region where has several branches in Russia, Ukraine or Belarus – there, the Polish bank acquired last month Belarusian Bank for Small Business for EUR4.9 million. 

RIB has assets worth about EUR98 million, ranking 36 in the Romanian banking sector where has a market share of 0.12%. The bank has 34 branches in 20 cities in Romania servicing around 80.000 clients, mainly individuals and small and mid-sized businesses.