The Croatian Competition Agency has officially cleared the country’s largest domestic lender, Hrvatska Poštanska Banka (HPB), to acquire its smaller peer, Croatia Banka. In a filing to the Zagreb Stock Exchange, HPB confirmed that the antitrust authority found no reason to believe the transaction would create a prohibited concentration or negatively impact market competition.(seenews)
The regulatory green light paves the way for the completion of a deal first struck when HPB signed a share purchase agreement with the Croatian Deposit Insurance Agency to buy a 100% stake in Croatia Banka for €15 million ($17 million).
Croatia Banka, formerly a privately-owned financial institution, hit severe liquidity difficulties back in 1999. To prevent its collapse, the state-run deposit insurance agency stepped in, putting the bank under a continuous rehabilitation program for over a quarter of a century. This acquisition finally transitions the long-ailing bank out of state-managed recovery.
The merger brings together two institutions of vastly different scales. Central bank data shows that HPB holds a dominant position with total assets reaching €7.2 billion, whereas the smaller Croatia Banka commands just €275 million in assets. While the acquisition represents a relatively small addition to HPB’s overall balance sheet, the move further solidifies its footprint in the domestic financial sector.
Market reaction to the antitrust clearance remained quiet. HPB’s shares, traded under the ticker ZSE:HPB, held flat at €336 on the Zagreb bourse following the announcement.