Qatar National Bank set to buy Finansbank from National Bank of Greece

Qatar National Bank (SAQ) agreed to buy National Bank of Greece SA’s (NBG) stake in its Turkish subsidiary, Finansbank AS, for 2.7 billion euros ($2.95 billion). The deal to buy NBG’s 99.8% holding needs to be approved before it can close in the first half of 2016.

The Doha-based lender will finance the purchase with its own funds and will remain “strongly capitalized” after the acquisition, according to a statement. “This transaction is a significant milestone in QNB’s vision to becoming a Middle East and Africa icon by 2017 and a leading global bank by 2030,” Group Chief Executive Officer Ali Ahmed Al-Kuwari said in the statement.

NBG had bought Finansbank for $5 bln in a landmark deal struck in 2006 and was then considered Turkey’s biggest-ever banking deal. Since then Finansbank had been responsible for driving NBG’s profits at a time of crisis, but it is now forced to sell its stake to comply with conditions of the EU bailout deal with Greece’s creditors.