December 2022 – Kinstellar is proud to have advised OTP Bank, Hungary’s largest commercial bank and one of the largest independent financial service providers in Central and Eastern Europe, on the successful acquisition of Uzbekistan’s fifth-largest bank, Ipoteka Bank, with an 8.5% market share, more than 1.6 million retail customers and a significant roster of corporate clientele.
Having worked together previously on several successful transactions in Hungary and in the CEE region, OTP mandated Kinstellar to handle its first acquisition in Central Asia. The deal involved four Kinstellar offices: Hungary, Uzbekistan, Serbia and Ukraine.
According to the sale and purchase agreement signed on 12 December 2022, OTP Bank will purchase 100% of the shares held by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan (nearly 97% of the total shareholding) in two steps: 75% of the shares now, and the remaining 25% three years after the financial closing of the first transaction. The financial closure of the first transaction is expected to take place in the first half of 2023.
The Kinstellar team acting on this high-value and high-profile transaction is led by Partner Gábor Gelencsér (Corporate/M&A), consisting of Senior Associate László Palócz (Corporate/M&A), Partner Anthony O’Connor (Corporate/M&A; English law support), Partner Péter Vörös (Competition), Senior Associate Eszter Takácsi-Nagy (Competition) from the Hungarian office, and Central Asia Managing Partner Joel Benjamin (Corporate/M&A, Banking, Finance & Capital Markets), Counsel Muborak Kambarova (Banking, Finance & Capital Markets), Associate Salimjon Yusupov (Corporate/M&A) and other members of the Uzbek office. Furthermore, the team was supported by Special Counsel Olga Sipka (Competition) from the Serbian office, and by Senior Associate Yulia Eismont (Competition) from the Ukrainian office.