Russia’s Sberbank Acquires Turkey’s DenizBank From Franco-Belgian Owners Dexia

State-owned Russian bank Sberbank has completed their largest ever acquisition by purchasing DenizBank for USD 3.6 bln. Former owners, Franco-Belgian firm Dexia, originally purchased a 75-percent stake in the bank in 2006 for USD 2.5 bln and gradually built their equity to 99.85 percent. Sberbank beat out competitors HSBC and the Qatar National Bank to win the deal, which is their fourth banking investment since January 2012. The total of previous acquisitions this year is under USD 2 bln and involved the acquisition of Russian investment banking institution Troika Dialog and nine other smaller banking firms in the CEE region. There are no plans for any further investments until 2014. Though the Turkish lira has dropped by about 30 percent against the euro and has affected the return on Dexia’s investment, the sale is an accomplishment of sorts in a climate where lenders are actively looking to offload their low-performing assets to other investors. Though the growth of the loan segment in Turkey is on the decline, for the moment it is holding strong at around 15 percent. The acquisition has enabled Sberbank to instantly double its commitment to achieving 5 percent net income from international operations by the year 2014.