Holman Fenwick Willan and Zivkovic Samardzic have advised Serbian industrial conglomerate MK Group on the proposed acquisition by its subsidiary AIK Banka of Alpha Bank A.E.'s Serbian subsidiary. Alpha Bank was advised by White & Case and Drazic, Beatovic & Stojic on the transaction. Financial details were not disclosed.
Alpha Bank, which presently has 67 branches across Serbia, entered the market in 2002. In 2005, it acquired Jubanka, Serbia’s seventh largest bank, in a EUR 152 million privatization deal. The Greek parent company bank has been selling its subsidiaries in South East Europe, in line with the EU-backed restructuring plan that was approved by the European Commission in 2014/15, which foresees the restructuring of the four Greek systemic lenders — Alpha Bank, Piraeus, Eurobank EFG, and the National Bank of Greece — and includes capital hikes and a reduction of their presence abroad.
In March of last year Alpha Bank sold its Bulgarian branch to Postbank, a unit of Greece’s Eurobank EFG, in a deal first announced in July 2015. In July, MK Group purchased the shares held by minority shareholders in AIK Banka and delisted the lender from the Belgrade stock exchange. Alpha Bank retains its presence in Macedonia, Albania, and Romania.
The London-based Holman Fenwick Willan team was led by Corporate Partner Alex Kyriakoulis with assistance from Senior Associate Catherine Emsellem-Rope and Associate Charlotte Britton.
The Zivkovic Samardzic team was led by Partners Branislav Zivkovic and Milos Milosevic, supported by Associate Sava Pavlovic.
The London-based White & Case team was led by Partner Gavin Weir and Associates Hyder Jumabhoy and Tina Kostelenos.
Drazic, Beatovic & Stojic did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.
