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BNP Paribas Buy Digital Bank From UniCredit In Bid To Expand Germany Footprint

BNP Paribas, which announced second-quarter results last week, and Italy’s UniCredit Bank, have agreed for the French firm to buy 81.39 per cent of DAB Bank.
BNP Paribas,
which announced second-quarter results last week, and Italy’s
UniCredit
Bank, have agreed for the French firm to buy 81.39 per cent
of DAB Bank, valuing all of this digital banking business, on a
100 per cent basis, at €435 million ($582 million).
BNP Paribas will buy the business from UniCredit at a price of
€4.78 per share, a statement said.
“Germany is a key market for BNP Paribas' expansion in Europe,
committing additional means and workforce with strong growth
targets in terms of revenues,” the bank said.
“This acquisition will give BNP Paribas a strong boost in the
development of its digital banking and brokerage business in
Europe. It will enable the Group to nearly double the number of
its clients in this segment in Germany reaching 1.4 million
clients and €58 billion [assets under management],” the
Paris-listed banking group continued.
The execution of final documentation remains subject to approval
by UniCredit Bank AG's supervisory board and will include
customary regulatory and antitrust approval conditions, the
statement continued.
The statement said DAB Bank is “a major player in the online
securities-related sector in Germany” and “has been experiencing
rapid growth in its direct banking business since 2012”. DAB Bank
is based in Germany, expanding its business with private clients,
as well as via its B2B offer to independent financial advisors.
DAB Bank operates in Germany and Austria, where it has 567,000
and 67,000 clients, respectively.
DAB’s total deposits reached €5 billion and volume of securities
accounts €30 billion.
The acquisition is “fully in line” with its 2014-2016 business
development plan, BNP Paribas said.
BNP Paribas’s report of its results is here. The results, as expected, reflected the
negative effect of a huge fine imposed by the US on the lender
for breaches of sanctions against blacklisted nations, such as
Iran and Sudan.