Mediterranean Bank completes €35 million Volksbank Malta acquisition

Mediterranean Bank plc received approval from the MFSA and concluded the acquisition of 100% of the issued share capital of Volksbank Malta.

Mediterranean Bank acquired 2,308,400 Ordinary ‘A’ shares of €23.83 each from VB - Holding Aktiengesellschaft and Mithra Holding Gesellschaft m.b.H. for cash consideration of €35,300,000.

The acquired bank is to be renamed Mediterranean Corporate Bank Limited.

This acquisition forms part of Mediterranean Bank’s strategy to enhance and broaden its corporate lending portfolio of Maltese clients.

After taking into account the carve-out last year of its international business, Volksbank Malta was said to have total assets of €150 million and equity of €56 million. Its pro-forma after tax profits for the period ended December 3, 2012, after taking into account the carve-out of international business, were approximately €605,000.

Volksbank Malta has operated as a fully-licensed Maltese bank since 2002.

The sale is the result of the purchase by the Austrian State of 43 per cent of Volksbank Malta’s parent company, Österreichischen Volksbanke AG, in 2012. Among the conditions attached to the deal was that it would divest itself of its overseas network, ranging from regional and specialised banks to credit cooperatives.

The process of selling Volksbank in Sliema started in April, when the management team started to downsize its overseas investments, which were sold to other banks outside Malta.