Emirates NBD completed the acquisition deal of Turkey's Denizbank from Russia's Sberbank after gaining regulatory approval in all three countries last month. The Dubai-based lender said that following completion, it now owns 99.85 per cent of Denizbank, the fifth-largest bank in Turkey with 749 branches and close to 14,000 employees. "While there is considerable cross-border trade and business activity across the MENAT region, only few banks can claim to have a strong pan-regional presence. Emirates NBD is now looking to change this with DenizBank, and we are pleased to have found a partner that has built a strong franchise and reputation as a leading banking group," said Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, vice-chairman and managing director, Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim of Emirates NBD, Dubai's largest bank. Emirates NBD first announced it had agreed a deal to buy Denizbank in May 2018 for 14.6 billion Turkish lira (Dh9.7bn), which equated to around $3.2 billion at the time of the announcement. However, following a dramatic decline in the value of the Turkish lira during the second half of 2018, terms were renegotiated and a new deal was announced in May this year. Under the new terms, Emirates NBD agreed to pay a slightly higher price of 15.48 billion Turkish lira, but in US dollar terms this equates to a rate of around $2.8bn (Dh10.28bn) at current prices, meaning a saving of around $400 million since the deal was first announced.
