Linklaters has advised an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management L.P., (“Cerberus”) on the acquisition of 100% of the shares of VeloBank, a leading global bank in Poland. Cerberus has offered a total consideration of PLN 1,075 million for VeloBank shares, comprised of PLN 375 million acquisition price and PLN 700 million recapitalization to meet the bank’s regulatory capital requirements.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, including from the European Commission and the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, and is expected to occur in mid-2024. Following the closing, VeloBank will cease to be a bridge institution and as such will no longer be subject to any restrictions on its operations imposed by the European Commission.
George Yiend, Linklaters Corporate Partner said:
“We have enjoyed being on this journey with Cerberus, Poland is an exciting market to enter and VeloBank, with their backing, is positioned competitively in the Polish market. Advising on these types of complex, cross border deals is the sweet spot for our corporate offering, supporting clients in realising their strategic priorities.”
The Linklaters cross-practice and multi-jurisdictional team was led by the Warsaw financial regulation team consisting of Joanna Gawlicka and Maciej Pietroń and London and Warsaw corporate and antitrust & foreign investment consisting of partners George Yiend, Marcin Schulz, Tracey Lochhead, and Cezary Wiśniewski, counsel Christopher Quinn, managing associates Magdalena Szewczyk, Marta Szrajer and Wojciech Podlasin, senior associates Barbara Wanat, Michał Nocoń and Michał Wolangiewicz.
Linklaters teams in Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands and Spain provided advice and assistance on the transaction.
This is the latest transaction Linklaters have advised on for Cerberus, having recently advised on the acquisition and financing of SEK 11.5bn asset sale by Intrum and the sale of Worldwide Flight Services to SATS for €2.25 billion.
