Austrias Erste Bank is in acquisition talks with Prestige Bank, the Ukrainian bank announced on Wednesday, yet refused to name a deadline for the deals completion.
Prestige Bank was set up early this year shortly after Oleksandr Derkach and Fedir Shpyh disposed of their stakes in Aval Bank for USD 1 billion.
Currently, the bank holds a 72th place of a total of 164 financial institutions operating in Ukraine.
Should the deal be completed successfully, Erste will expand its East European presence. Currently, it operates branches in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, and Slovenia.