that the merger between the two banks, aimed at creating a leading
financial institution in Bulgaria, is moving fast. The new
entity will be one of the top three in the field. According to DZI
and Postbank executive director Anthony Hasiotis (pictured),
the banks information systems operational merger will be
completed by the end of the second quarter of 2007 and the
juridical merger before the end of September.
Photo: PROVIDED
Eurobank EFG - Bulgaria will be born by September 2007 after the merger of Post Bank and DZI Bank.
A news conference given by the bank-to-bes CEO Anthony Hasiotis was entitled Establishment of the most preferred bank in Bulgaria.
Post Bank and DZI Bank aggregate amount of assets accounts for 9.3 per cent of the balance sheet value of the entire domestic finance and credit sector and the new bank will rate fourth in the country according to that indicator. Loans extended by the two banks amount to 1.2 billion euro. Post Banks profit for 2006 was 21 million euro, marking a 38 per cent increase from 2005.
Hasiotis said after the merger, the new financial institution will be most probably named Eurobank EFG - Bulgaria.
The agreement for the purchase of DZI Bank by the Eurobank EFG Holding of Luxemburg, which is a part of EFG Banking Group, became reality on December 15 2006. Then the buyer remitted to the shareholders of the credit institution - DZI Insurance and Reinsurance Company and another six companies that were at the time owned by Vessela Kyuleva - 110 million euro and transferred them two million shares of the Greek EFG Eurobank, worth a total of 47.76 million euro.
Hasiotis said some other payments on the deal have been effected as well, and the purchase price thus added up to 210 million euro.
Hasiotis said one of the reasons for the acquisition of DZI Bank was the need for more employees and to extend the distribution network. According to him, the process of the two banks integration shall not hamper the development of new products and services. They already offer at one and the same terms mortgage, consumer and business credits, Bulgarian-language Banker daily reported on May 23.
