Radovanovic Stojanovic & Partners and Cerha Hempel have advised AIK Banka, Gorenjska Banka, and Agri Europe Cyprus on their acquisition of Sberbank Europe’s shares in six CEE banks. Noerr advised the buyers on Hungarian law, while Maric & Co, Zuric and Partners, Tos & Partners, and Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners reportedly advised the buyers on Bosnian, Croatian, Slovenian, and Russian matters, respectively.
The transaction included Sberbank Europe AG’s shares in Sberbank Srbija (Serbia), Sberbank Banka (Slovenia), Sberbank BH Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Sberbank Banja Luka (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Sberbank (Croatia), and Sberbank Magyarorszag (Hungary). The target banks hold total assets of EUR 7.329 billion, operate 162 branches in aggregate, and serve approximately 600,000 clients, as of the end of 2020.
According to Cerha Hempel, “the parties signed the share purchase agreement on November 3, 2021. Closing of the transaction is subject to approvals by national and international regulators as well as by national competition authorities and is expected to take place in 2022.”
Radovanovic Stojanovic & Partners’ team included Partners Sasa Stojanovic, Rasko Radovanovic, Anja Tasic, and Nikola Cincovic, Attorney Djordje Vicic, and Associates Zivko Kovacevic and Irina Petrovic.
Cerha Hempel’s team included Partners Albert Birkner, Benjamin Twardosz, and Volker Glas, Senior Associate Martin Eichinger, and Associate Mathias Drescher.
Noerr’s team included Partner Zoltan Nadasdy, Senior Counsel Peter Stauber, Counsels Akos Mates-Lanyi and Akos Bajorfi, and Lawyer Szilvia Andriska.
Editor's Note: After this article was published, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer announced that it had advised Sberbank on the deal. The firm's team included Moscow-based Partner Mikhail Loktionov and Associate Roman Prudentov and Vienna-based Partners Farid Sigari-Majd and Florian Klimscha, Principal Associates Daniel Lungenschmid, Katharina Kubik, and Eric Leikin, and Associates Maria Tumpel and Maximilian Hohenauer.
