The merger process between Alpha Bank and UniCredit Spa on the Romanian market is going well, and the two groups are analyzing the possibility of making a new acquisition together, after the creation of the third largest lender in the local banking sector, stated Andrea Orcel, UniCredit CEO and Vassilios Psaltis, Alpha Bank CEO, in a joint interview with Bloomberg.
“We both have a commitment to Romania, we both like Romania and we both see a lot of value there,” said Andrea Orcel. “If and when there is an opportunity, we will also consider acquisitions in partnership.”
For the head of UniCredit, an expert in negotiations, the association with Alpha Bank is one of the smallest transactions in his career so far. But it highlights its creative approach at a time when national interests and the unfinished project of a European banking union often stand in the way of cross-border transactions.
Born from the desire to increase the size of UniCredit in Romania, the association with Alpha Bank turned into a partnership that, according to Orcel, could become a model for the way the Italian lender enters new markets.
For Alpha Bank, whose growth plans in Romania were frozen during the Greek financial crisis, the deal was a way to capture value while retaining an investment in a larger lender that will serve its Greek customers from another country, declared Vassilios Psaltis.
“Romania is a great market”, he said, adding that expansion on this market will be pursued “jointly”.
Through the agreement signed in October 2023, UniCredit agreed to buy the 9% holding of the Greek government in Alpha Bank and the majority stake in the branch in Romania, which will merge with UniCredit Bank Romania. The two groups also established a distribution agreement and a joint venture in the private pensions sector.
Alpha Bank received 300 million euros in cash for the business in Romania and kept 9.9% of the capital of the new entity formed as a result of the merger.
“I am very, very satisfied with what we have achieved”, declared Orcel, who called the acquisition of a minority stake in the Greek group Alpha a “pilot” for new markets where they do not compete directly with another bank. “It is possible that there are other markets we are interested in developing directly in Central and Eastern Europe. If I can reproduce this model with relevant partners for UniCredit, I will.”
The two managers consider this agreement as an alternative way to promote banking integration in Europe. The head of UniCredit stated that he has no plans to increase UniCredit’s stake in Alpha, and his Greek counterpart claimed that “it is clear that this structure is very coherent”.
The agreement will generate an additional net profit for UniCredit of at least 100 million euros starting in 2026, most of it coming from the business in Romania, Andrea Orcel also said. The impact of the merger will be seen in the financial results as early as next year, he added.
The two chief executives said they were confident the partnership between the two banks could go beyond initial plans and include payments, trade finance and capital markets activities.
“For example, in consulting or on the capital market, we will go more and more together with a list of common objectives”, said Andrea Orcel.
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