Bulletin: Raiffeisen Bank International Expands Czech Footprint With Smaller Acquisition

FRANKFURT (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 9, 2021--S&P Global Ratings said today that Austria-based Raiffeisen Bank International AG's (RBI; A-/Negative/A-2) plan to fully acquire Czech Equa bank a.s., along with Equa Sales and Distribution s.r.o., is in line with our view on Raiffeisen Banking Group's (RBG) strategy of mixed organic and inorganic geographic expansion in Central and Eastern Europe. In our ratings on RBI, we already account for potential small acquisitions, and given the small size of the transaction we don't expect a meaningful impact on the group's capitalization or risk profile. We anticipate that Czech Equa bank will complement and broaden RBI's existing Czech consumer lending services at Czech subsidiary Raiffeisenbank a.s., result in synergies, and enhance its local digitalization

...February 9, 2021 FRANKFURT (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 9, 2021--S&P Global Ratings said today that Austria-based Raiffeisen Bank International AG's (RBI; A-/Negative/A-2) plan to fully acquire Czech Equa bank a.s., along with Equa Sales and Distribution s.r.o., is in line with our view on Raiffeisen Banking Group's (RBG) strategy of mixed organic and inorganic geographic expansion in Central and Eastern Europe. In our ratings on RBI, we already account for potential small acquisitions, and given the small size of the transaction we don't expect a meaningful impact on the group's capitalization or risk profile. We anticipate that Czech Equa bank will complement and broaden RBI's existing Czech consumer lending services at Czech subsidiary Raiffeisenbank a.s., result in synergies, and enhance its local digitalization efforts. The Czech retail market is RBG's largest foreign market (about 7% of assets), and following this strategic transaction it will gain further importance. The proposed transaction...

Bulletin