“In accordance with Competition Law no. 21/1996, this transaction requires authorization from the Competition Council, which will assess it to establish its compatibility with a normal competitive environment and will issue a decision within the legal deadlines,” according to representatives of the antitrust body.
In October 2023, J.C. Flowers & Co reached an agreement with Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo Group for Intesa to acquire 99.98% of the shares of First Bank Romania from J.C. Flowers & Co.
The transaction, which was estimated between EUR120 and EUR150 million, as per sources on the banking market, is expected to propel Intesa among the top ten lenders on the Romanian banking market, with a combined market share of over 2%.
J.C. Flowers put First Bank up for sale in 2022 and was close to striking a deal with UniCredit in December 2022, which fell through at the last minute, though. Later on, in spring 2023, J.C. Flowers resumed the sale process of First Bank Romania, which has a 1.1% market share and assets worth RON7.73 billion (EUR1.6 billion), placing 15th on the local market in 2022.
Over the last years, J.C. Flowers has acquired two banks present in Romania, respectively Piraeus Bank (at end-2017), and Leumi Bank (in 2019), which led to the creation of what First Bank is now.
Intesa Sanpaolo is Italy’s most important banking group. Intesa Sanpaolo Bank has been operating in Romania since 1996 as a universal bank, supporting both local and foreign entrepreneurs that wish to scale up their businesses.