After months of negotiations, Vienna-based Raiffeisen International (RI) has signed a landmark purchase agreement to acquire a 93.5% stake in Ukraine’s second largest bank, Bank Aval. The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval in Ukraine and Austria, adds significantly to RI’s existing banking assets in Ukraine and reflects its pioneering style in central and eastern Europe.
Austria’s Raiffeisen International (RZB) is in exclusive takeover talks with Ukraine’s second-largest commercial bank, Aval. “We are in talks that we have agreed will be mutual until May,” said the chief executive of Raiffeisen International, Herbert Stepic. “We want to take over the bank entirely.”
Ben Aris reports from Kiev on the benefits that the new eastern bloc CES alliance is expected to bring and on the country’s growing relationship with the EU.The leaders of the four biggest countries in eastern Europe gathered in the Crimean resort of Yalta in May to create their answer to the EU: the Common Economic Space (CES). The new free trade zone is designed to feed flourishing economic growth in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus.