Finland's S-Bank has announced plans to acquire Svenska Handelsbanken's private customer, asset management and investment services operations in Finland.
Following pending regulatory approval, the deal will involve the transfer of around 230 Handelsbanken employees and "nearly all of the leases of the bank's Finnish branches will be transferred to S-Bank," the financial institution said in a press release issued on Wednesday.
The acquisition will help S-Bank grow, according to its CEO, Riikka Laine-Tolonen.
"Today marks the start of the next chapter in the S-Bank story. With this transaction, we strengthen our position as a bank for the Finns. Our housing loan and deposit portfolio will grow, and we will become the fourth largest bank in both sectors in the Finnish market," Laine-Tolonen said in the release.
Handelsbanken's private customers do not need to do anything concerning the changes at this stage, according to S-Bank.
Completion of the transfer is expected to take place in the second half of 2024.
The Sweden-based Handelsbanken announced in October of last year that it planned to leave its operations in Finland and Denmark.
At the time, Handelsbanken said its main markets were in Sweden, Norway and the UK, which accounted for 91 percent of its business.
No premium
S-Bank said it was not paying a premium on the deal, and that it will hand Handelsbanken "a cash amount that is EUR 20–25 million less than the net value of the balance sheet items to be transferred at closing."
"The net value is determined by the difference between the values of the loan and deposit agreements to be transferred and it amounted to approximately EUR 2.0 billion on 31 March 2023. The value of loans to be transferred was approximately EUR 3.6 billion and that of deposits approximately EUR 1.6 billion. The final purchase price will be determined at closing on the basis of the value of the loan and deposit agreements current at that time," S-Bank said.
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