CMS advises OTP Bank Group on €600m acquisition project

CMS has advised OTP Bank Group on the acquisition of Société Générale subsidiaries SG Expressbank Group, Sogelife Insurance Company, and SG Banka Albania, with a collective transaction value of over €600 million. The deals are expected to complete next year due to complex regulatory and merger clearance filings in five jurisdictions, with the possibility of an additional Phase II filing.

The transaction, which forms part of OTP’s strategic expansion in Southeast Europe, will both strengthen our client’s position in the Bulgarian market and facilitate its entry into the Albanian market. The three transactions have been negotiated simultaneously under extreme time pressure and represent the first phase of an unprecedented CMS mandate won earlier this year - to advise OTP on more than seven acquisitions across ten jurisdictions with a collective transaction value of over €1bn.

Congratulations to the multi-jurisdictional transaction team led by Co-Client Relationship Partner Eva Talmacsi, with invaluable support from the core transaction team, comprising project leads Zoltán Poronyi, Gabor Gelencser, Dora Czegledi (CMS Budapest); the merger clearance team of Dora Petranyi, Szabolcs Szendro and Dora Altziebler (CMS Budapest); our Bulgarian transaction team led by Atanas Bangachev and comprising Elitsa Ivanova, Desislava Vasileva, Veliko Savov, Nevena Radlova, Konstantin Stoyanov, Zornitsa Georgieva, Iveta Manolova, Plamena Kostadinova, Borislava Piperkova, Irina Sokolova, Denitsa Dudevska, Tatyana Yosifova, Angel Naydenov, and Mirela Dyukendzhieva (CMS Sofia); the Albanian transaction team led by Mirko Daidone and supported by Evis Zaja (CMS Albania); and Stephan Werlen (CMS Zurich). Invaluable strategic advice was provided by David Butts (CMS Sofia).