Unicredit has submitted its bid to Blackstone for the purchase of Luminor, entering into competition with the Hungarian bank OTP, which is also interested in acquiring the bank, according to firstonline.info.

Luminor operates in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, with its headquarters in Tallinn. It is the third-largest financial services provider in the Baltic region.

In 2018, DNB Bank ASA and Nordea Bank Abp agreed to sell a 60.1 percent stake in Luminor Holding to Blackstone. After the sale, DNB and Nordea each retained 19.95 percent of the share capital, and Blackstone agreed to buy Nordea's remaining stake in the following years. In December 2021, Blackstone purchased an additional 8.4 percent of Luminor Holding from Nordea, and in September 2022, it acquired another 11.6 percent.

As a result of these transactions, Blackstone now owns 80.05 percent of Luminor Holding, with the remaining 19.95 percent owned by DNB.

According to firstonline.info, Blackstone aims to achieve 1.2 times the bank's book value through the sale process initiated at the beginning of the year. As of the end of December, Luminor's balance sheet showed approximately €1.8 billion in equity.

It is currently unclear what stake Unicredit intends to acquire – whether the entire stake held by Blackstone or only enough to gain control of Luminor.

The acquisition would be part of Unicredit's strategy to expand in the fast-growing markets of Eastern and Northern Europe. On June 12, the European Commission approved Unicredit's acquisition of sole control over Alpha Bank Romania under the EU Merger Regulation. Brussels concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns given the limited market position of the companies involved.

UniCredit S.p.A. is an Italian global banking and financial services company operating in 50 countries, with over 8,500 branches and 147,000 employees. Its strategic position in Western and Eastern Europe gives it one of the largest market shares in the region. The company is part of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.

In early May, it was revealed that the Hungarian bank OTP is also interested in acquiring Luminor.

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