Fortis becomes largest foreign bank in Turkey

merlin · #1 04-14-2005, 10:56

Dutch-Belgian financial services group Fortis has disclosed that it will buy a majority of shares in Dışbank. Media conglomerate Doğan Group agreed to sell its entire stake in Dışbank to Fortis yesterday for 985 million euros ($1.26 billion), which Fortis said would be paid out in cash. With this deal, Fortis, among the top 10 financial groups in Europe, will acquire 89.3 percent of Turkey's seventh-largest privately owned bank in terms of assets from its parent company and will become the largest foreign bank in Turkey. Dışbank has more than 1 million customers, around 120,000 small enterprise customers and 10,000 commercial banking clients. It has 173 branches and a staff of approximately 4,500.