The sale of Alpha Bank Albania has been completed

By Leonidas Stergiou

Alpha Bank has completed the sale of Alpha Bank Albania to OTP Bank Plc, which was announced with the strategic plan “tomorrow”. The sale plan was codenamed Riviera and was part of the Group’s overall plan to highlight goodwill from its subsidiaries amounting to 800 million euros.

Alpha Bank Group completed the transaction, achieving a price (in terms of price to book value, P/BV) significantly higher compared to previous transactions in Albania. As noted, the transaction exceeded the expectations as presented in “Project Tomorrow”, regarding the profits from the Group’s exit from this market (agreed price of 55 million euros compared to 30 million euros in “Project Tomorrow”), as Capital.gr had published.

It is also recalled that this agreement is in line with the Group’s commitment to focus on its core markets. The funds released from Albania will be channeled to Greece, Romania and Cyprus.

The quality of the Group’s counterparty and its presence in Central and Eastern Europe will support the future cooperation between Alpha Bank Group and OTP Group and meet the needs of Alpha Bank’s customers in these regions.

What does sale mean?

The transaction will create a strong banking group with a leading position in Albania and a market share of around 11% based on assets, thus continuing Alpha Bank’s successful presence in the Albanian market and also ensuring the interests of the Group’s client base operating in Albania. This is because the agreement with OTP ensures the two Groups to explore new fields of mutually beneficial cooperation in the future.