ISTANBUL: Qatar National Bank SAQ agreed to buy National Bank of Greece SA’s (NBG) Turkish unit for 2.75 billion euros (US$3bil) in cash as it seeks expansion throughout the Middle East and Africa.
The Qatari lender is acquiring NBG’s 99.8% stake in Finansbank AS and 29.9% of Finans Leasing in a deal that will also see it take on US$910mil of subordinated debt, the Athens-based bank said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. QNB, as it’s known, is paying slightly below book value for the Istanbul-based lender, according to analysts including Kazim Andac at Deutsche Bank. Turkey’s banking index is trading at about 0.89 times book.