UniCredit: we will remain in the Baltics
02.02.2012, 15:06Italy's UniCredit Bank that enjoys a strong presence in Central and Eastern Europe but a limited exposure in the Baltics has been recently speculated to be a likely candidate to sell its regional business. The bank itself denies the potential exit, writes news2biz.com with reference to Verslo Zinios.
The rumour originated at a recent M&A conference in Vilnius when a local law firm said that the sale of a pan-regional banking player could be expected this year as the search for buyers is already underway.
Verslo zinios business daily was quick to attach UniCredit's name to this unidentified bank only to hear from the bank itself that the Baltic exit is not on the agenda.
"The bank is serving corporate customers in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania and currently we are not planning to change this focus. UniCredit is satisfied with activities in Baltics and thus the question about exit from this market is not on the agenda today," Gianni Franco Papa, head of CEE division at UniCredit, said in a statement.
Interestingly, the statement was posted only on the Lithuanian branch office's website, but not on those in Latvia and Estonia.
At the end of Q3 2011, UniCredit Bank's Lithuanian branch had assets worth LTL 1.3bn (including LTL 1.2bn in loans and amounts receivable, of which LTL 0.8bn were loans to private and corporate customers) against LTL 1.3bn of liabilities (including LTL 0.4bn of private and corporate deposits). During the period, the bank branch reported an LTL 6m profit. UniCredit has denied rumours of planning to pull out of the Baltics.
In early 2011, UniCredit launched a leasing operation in Lithuania targeting local SMEs.