Despite selling some retail banks in central and eastern Europe to OTP, mostly in smaller markets, Societe Generale remains heavily involved in financing in this region under its global banking and advisory unit, led in CEE, Middle East and Africa by Denis Stas de Richelle. In Czech Republic and Romania, SocGen’s international banking operations are plugged into its local universal banks. But even as it has sold banks in other countries, it has sought to hold on to its sovereign and corporate clients there. It also enjoys a cooperation agreement with OTP in corporate and investment banking.
CEE’s best bank for financing, SocGen rose to the top of Dealogic’s regional loan bookrunner league table this year. It worked on a variety of loan financings across the region, including that for CETIN, part of a wider batch of work it did for the Czech telecommunications infrastructure company.