Banca Intesa to reinforce its presence in Eastern Europe

[FaGal]

Banca Intesa to reinforce its presence in Eastern Europe
www.efma.com - Italy / Serbia - March 5, 2005


The Italian bank, Banca Intesa, announced at the end of February 2005 that it had signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake of 75% in the Serbian bank, Delta Banka, in a deal worth 277.5 million euros.

Under the agreement, Banca Intesa will have the possibility to increase its holding to 100% in the future.

Delta Banka, the second largest bank in Serbia, has a network of 144 branches and more than 400,000 customers.

This acquisition is part of Banca Intesa’s Central and Eastern European expansion strategy, which it launched in 1979 with the acquisition of the Hungarian bank, Central-European International Bank (CIB).

It subsequently acquired the Croatian bank Privredna Banka Zagreb (PBZ) in 2000 and the Slovak bank Vseobecna Uverova Banka (VUB) in 2001.

Banca Intesa is also present in the Czech Republic via VUB, in Slovenia through its subsidiary Banca Popolare FriulAdria, and in Russia with ZAO Banca Intesa.

Once the purchase of Delta Bank has been completed, Banca Intesa will have 3.5 million customers in Eastern Europe and a network of 650 branches.

The transaction is due to be finalised at the end of the second quarter 2005, once the relevant authorities have given the green light.