National Bank of Ukraine gives Poland's Getin Holding six months to sell Ukrainian subsidiary Idea Bank
MOSCOW. May 3 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Ukraine has given Poland's Getin Holding S.A. six months to sell its 100% of shares in Lvov-based Idea Bank, Ukrainian media reported, citing a Getin filing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
It states that on May 2, 2024, Getin Holding received a decision from the NBU Committee on Banking Supervision, Regulation, Payment System Monitoring (Oversight) dated April 29 of this year, requiring Getin Holding to dispose of 323,072,875 shares of Idea Bank.
In addition, a similar demand was put forward in relation to the main owner of Getin Holding, Leszek Czarnecki, who the National Bank required to sell Getin Holding 145,318,179 shares, or 44.98% of Idea Bank, within six months, offering as an alternative to sell Czarnecki's share in Getin Holding or its LC Corp BV, which owns 34.17% in Getin Holding.
The NBU established the term in pursuance of these requirements within six months from the date of entry into force of the resolution - April 29.
"The issuer's management board reports that it is analyzing the legal consequences of the decision and the best actions to protect investments [...] in accordance with current legislation," Getin Holding said.
The NBU suspended Getin Holding's right to vote with 100% of shares in Idea Bank in March 2023 after finding fault with the business reputation of the financial group and its principal owner Czarnecki for unspecified reasons. The NBU set a one-year deadline for violations to be rectified and appointed the head of the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, Jacek Piechota as trust manager.
A year later the NBU refused a request from Getin Holding for another year to rectify violations and reinstate its rights to vote with 100% of shares in Idea Bank. The NBU also refused to reinstate Getin Holding principal owner Leszek Czarnecki's right to vote with 44.98% of shares in the Ukrainian bank.
Getin Holding tried to sell 100% of shares in Idea Bank twice, but the deal fell through both times. After the second failed attempt, when it came close to selling Idea Bank to Rinat Akhmetov's First Ukrainian International Bank in early 2022, Getin abandoned plans to sell the Ukrainian lender.
Idea Bank, formerly known as Plus Bank, was founded in 1989 and ranked 26th by assets among Ukraine's 63 operating banks at the beginning of March 2024, NBU data showed.
In Poland, as a result of decisions by the Bank Guarantee Fund, the Polish Idea Bank became part of Pekao Bank, while Getin Noble Bank was also included in the resolution procedure, changed its name to VeloBank and at the end of March this year was sold to the American fund Cerberus Capital Management LP.