Spanish Bank BBVA plans to purchase Turkey's Finansbank, which is owned by the National Bank of Greece (NBG), according to a report released by El Confidencial, a Spanish news portal. BBVA is also the biggest shareholder of Turkey's Garanti Bank with a 39.9 percent stake. According to El Confidencial, BBVA has reached the final stage of purchasing Finansbank, which will allow the bank to double its competitiveness in Turkey. In addition, El Confidencial reported that due to the economic crisis in Greece, NBG supposedly decided to sell Finansbank to finance its capital deficit and it signed a contract with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to get help with the sale process. The NBG has a capital deficit of 4.6 billion euros, according to stress tests. Furthermore, BBVA wants to consolidate its strength in Turkey by achieving synergy from the purchase of Finansbank, which it has been investigating for about six months.
Moreover, the news stressed that the purchasing process, which also includes a Qatari fund and ING Bank, can become longer, adding that the purchase of Finansbank is risky due to geopolitical risks as well as BBVA's lack of sufficient experience in Turkey. The NBG also said the carrying amount of Finansbank is 3.4 billion euros; however, it did not announce the sale price.
