Raiffeisen Raises Addiko Takeover Offer as Bidding Race Heats Up
Raiffeisen Bank International AG improved its bid to buy Addiko Bank AG, intensifying the race to buy the Balkans consumer lending specialist.
The Austrian bank raised its offer by 15% to €26.50 ($31.04) per Addiko share, according to a statement Wednesday. That price is 10% below the €29 per share the lender was trading in Vienna at 10:50 a.m.
Earlier in the day, Slovenian lender Nova Ljubljanska banka d.d. published its purchase offer for €29 per share aimed at gaining a controlling interest in Addiko.
Raiffeisen’s offer would involve a subsequent sale of Addiko’s operations in Serbia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Montenegro.
Read More: Slovenia’s NLB Sets Takeover Bid for Addiko at €29 Per Share
Addiko wrote earlier on Wednesday that it will respond to the new situation after formal offers have been submitted. The Vienna-based lender also reported first-quarter profit after tax, which dropped 30% to €10.1 million.
Addiko was created as the so-called good bank of Hypo Alpe Adria following a 2009 nationalization to avert a collapse, and specializes in consumer lending across the Balkans. Larger peers have been eyeing a takeover since an IPO in 2019 that saw private equity investor Advent International Corp. cashing out on its stake, leading to a fragmented shareholder structure.
Austrian financial investor Alex Schuetz’s S-Quad, Agri Europe — now called Aik Group — and Alta Group each hold just under 10% in Addiko, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Austrian investors Winegg and Jelitzka+Partner own smaller stakes, according to a shareholder structure published on Addiko’s website.
