Alpha Bank takes over Astrobank for €205 mln
Source: Financial Mirror
Greece-owned Alpha Bank is going ahead with the takeover of Astrobank at a preliminary purchase price of €205 mln, making the new merged entity the third biggest bank in Cyprus.
After the takeover, the new Alpha will have 26 branches and just under 800 staff, following Astrobank’s decision in 2023 to downsize its branch network and workforce to 400.
The takeover also ends the presence of Lebanon’s Sehnaoui family in the Cyprus banking scene, after they took over the local operations of Piraeus Bank in 2017, that in turn emerged from the Greek giant’s acquisition of Arab Bank a decade before that.
Astrobank tried to enhance its operations in the past, but failed to take over CDB Bank in late 2023 or National Bank of Greece (Cyprus) in 2019. Before that, it had succeeded to take over smaller Universal Savings Bank (USB).
Alpha Bank, under its new vibrant management, that has promised to expand operations on the island, aims to boost its loans portfolio by 60%, deposits by 70%, total balance sheet by 65% and double the combined profits to about €100 mln.
The original article: belongs to Financial Mirror .
