Picture of an Odea Bank branch. Photo cropped and taken from the bank's Facebook page.
BEIRUT — Bank Audi announced on Tuesday that it had reached a definitive agreement with Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company ADQ, to sell 96 percent of the share capital of Odeabank, its subsidiary in Turkey — for an undisclosed amount.
This comes after months of rumors revolving around the acquisition deal between the two parties. Bloomberg received confirmation in August that discussions were extended over several months of the past year, and negotiations had reportedly been “somewhat complicated,” as ADQ was not the only potentially interested buyer in the picture.
“This transaction aligns well with Bank Audi Group’s present strategic focus on its home market as well as its presence in Europe,” said Khalil El Debs, CEO of Bank Audi, in a press release. Contacted, Bank Audi did not provide any further comments.
The deal was foreseen by U.S. investment bank J.P. Morgan, who acted as the sole financial advisor to Bank Audi on the transaction.
Established by Bank Audi in 2012, Odeabank counted assets of 87.4 billion Turkish lira (or $2.6 billion), making it Turkey’s 13th largest private conventional bank by total gross loans and customer deposits, according to the press release. Focused primarily on commercial lending, the Turkish medium-sized lender operates 41 branches across 15 cities in the country, employing some 1,300 people as of the end of June 2024.
In 2016, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, the IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund (FIG Fund), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) became shareholders of Odeabank — all of whom agreed to sell their respective interests in the share capital of Odeabank to ADQ.
As a strategic partner of the Government of Abu Dhabi, AQD, launched in 2018, has a broad portfolio under its wing, with investments spread across key sectors in the UAE like energy, utilities, food and agriculture, healthcare, transport and more.
Together with Turkey Wealth Fund, ADQ launched a $300 billion fund in 2022, with the aim of investing in companies developing emerging technologies or improving existing technologies in key sectors, the press release also stated.
The transaction marks the latest in a series of acquisitions undertaken by several Lebanese banks, who turned to the sale of subsidiaries abroad to increase their liquidity and focus on domestic markets following Lebanon’s severe economic meltdown at the end of 2019.
In 2021, Bank Audi sold its Egyptian subsidiary to the Emirati group, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), a few months after finalizing the sales of its Jordan and Iraq subsidiaries to Capital Bank Group, and selling its 47 percent stake in Bank Audi Syria to Banque BEMO Saudi Fransi (BBSF).
The overarching trend has also seen other institutions like Blom Bank do the same for its Egyptian subsidiary, sold to Bahrain’s Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) in 2021. Byblos Bank also followed suit with the sales of its subsidiary in Syria to BBSF in 2024.