Garanti paid US GE 46m euros for its stake

Turkey’s Garanti group paid 46m euros to buy the 26.73% stake US GE Money still held in the bank and the three non-bank financial institutions they operated jointly in Romania.
All Romanian operations will be transferred under Garanti brand and run by a joint managing committee, but the structure of distinct legal entities will be retained.
“Garanti group now controls 100% in the bank and the three institutions. We will keep them (the legal entities) separate, but we will strengthen synergies,” Murat Atay, general manager of Garanti Bank Romania, told ZF in an interview.
Starting from the value of this deal, the operations now controlled by Garanti on the domestic market should be worth 172m euros.
In official statements, the Turks are already speaking of Garanti Romania group. At a consolidated level, assets total 1.5bn euros, with a portfolio of around 500,000 clients.
Garanti Bank last year boosted assets by 60%, above the initial 40% target, reaching 1.3bn euros. “We now rank 14th, but we want to be in the top ten. For this, we’re bringing capital and opening new branches,” Atay says.