Acquisition of all shares in DnB NORD
DnB NOR has concluded an agreement to acquire the German bank NORD/LB’s 49 per cent ownership interest in DnB NORD for a consideration of EUR 160 million in cash.
Since year-end 2005, DnB NOR ASA (DnB NOR) and Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (NORD/LB) have jointly owned Bank DnB NORD A/S (DnB NORD). On 2 August 2010, DnB NOR exercised its option to acquire NORD/LB’s 49 per cent ownership interest in DnB NORD. Since then, the parties have been in negotiations to agree on the consideration for the shares. An agreement has now been reached whereby DnB NOR pays a cash consideration of EUR 160 million to NORD/LB. After the completion of the transaction, DnB NOR will own 100 per cent of the shares in DnB NORD.
"The Baltic states and Poland have higher growth potential than Western Europe, and DnB NOR wishes to grow within the retail banking segment in these countries to realise its general growth ambitions. We are also seeing clear signs that the macroeconomic situation in the Baltic states is improving, and the Polish economy has been among the strongest in Europe throughout the financial crisis,” says Rune Bjerke, group chief executive of DnB NOR.
As of 30 September 2010, DnB NORD had approximately EUR 10 billion in total assets, 155 branch offices across the four countries where it is present (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland), around 960 000 customers and 3 100 employees.
DnB NORD will be organised as a division in the business area Large Corporates and International, which is headed by Leif Teksum, group executive vice president.
"We have already drawn up concrete plans of action to implement a good and efficient integration process. DnB NORD has highly qualified employees in all four markets and we will further strengthen the organisation with competent employees from DnB NOR,” says Rune Bjerke.
The transaction is subject to the approval of the two banks' supervisory boards and the respective national regulatory authorities.
DnB NOR was advised by J.P. Morgan on this transaction.
Contact persons:
Trond Bentestuen, group executive vice president, Corporate Communications, tel.: +47 950 28 448
Thomas Midteide, vice president External Communication, tel.: +47 962 32 017
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