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Erich Hampel: ATF supports our expansion strategy |
Founded in 1995, ATF Bank has 110 branches, $8.4 billion of assets and an 11.8% share of the roughly $78 billion banking market in Kazakhstan, where GDP growth has averaged 10% since 2000. The bank’s traditional business focus has been on corporate banking but in recent years it has expanded into fast-growing retail banking as well. The bank also boasts a network of subsidiaries in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and the Russian region of Omsk. The purchase is being conducted by UniCredit’s Bank Austria Creditanstalt subsidiary, which manages the bank’s central and eastern European operations. Pending all the necessary regulatory approvals the purchase of ATF Bank should be completed by the end of the year, with UniCredit ultimately looking to secure a 100% stake. Credit Suisse and UniCredit’s own investment banking unit are acting as advisers on the transaction, which is the latest in a series of acquisitions by the bank in the fast-growing markets of the Commonwealth of Independent States. In December, for example, UniCredit, Italy’s largest bank, paid $424 million for Russian brokerage Aton Capital, and in July it will increase its holding in its Russian subsidiary International Moscow Bank by 9.97%