INTERFAX. Marfin Popular Bank, the biggest bank in Cyprus and Greece’s No. 2 lending institution, announced the completed acquisition of Russian Industrial Bank (Rosprombank) that ranks among the Top 200 of Russian lending institutions. According to the data of Dealogic, the consultant for the deal (€83 mln) was Deutsche Bank. The transaction involved the purchase of a 50.04% stake in the parent company of the Russian bank, RPB-Holding (it owns 99.927% of the bank).
As a result, Marfin’s international network will cover 478 offices in Cyprus and Malta, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, the UK, Estonia and Australia.
Until now neither Greek nor Cypriot banks bought lending institutions in Russia. Marfin Popular Bank, established in 2006 through the merger of Cyprus Popular Bank with Greece’s Marfin and Egnatia Bank, also bought earlier Ukraine’s Sea Transport Bank.
Rosprombank has a network consisting of 32 offices, earned over €6 mln in 2007 net profit with assets equaling nearly €300 mln, the Greek media wired. Based on H108 performance, Rosprombank ranked 162th in terms of assets in the Interfax-100 ranking, prepared by Interfax-CEA.
