Hurling Dervish

22 May 2018 By Christopher Thompson Follow @CGAThompson

The Dubai-based lender is paying Russia’s Sberbank $3.2 bln for Denizbank, Turkey’s fifth-largest bank by assets. NBD is buying a high-return asset near book value, and gets to diversify its top line. Yet Turkey’s rising risks reduce the extent to which this is a bargain.

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Emirates NBD has agreed to buy Turkish lender Denizbank for 14.6 billion lira ($3.19 billion) from Russia's Sberbank.

Dubai-based Emirates NBD said in January it had started initial strategic talks with Sberbank about a possible purchase of the Russian lender's stake in Denizbank, the fifth-largest private bank in Turkey.

The deal will help Emirates NBD establish itself as a leading bank in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, said Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, vice chairman of Emirates NBD in a statement.

Emirates NBD, Dubai's biggest lender, will pay interest on the consideration for the period between Oct. 31, 2017 and the transaction's closing date, expected later in the year, the two banks said in a joint statement.

Denizbank has assets of 169.4 billion lira and operates 751 branches including 43 outside Turkey.

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