The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has granted shareholder of the "TAS" group, Sergey Tigipko, permission for concentration through the indirect acquisition of 100% of the shares of JSC "Idea Bank".
According to a statement from the group's press service, the relevant decision was made by the AMCU on Thursday, December 12.
"The granting of permission by the AMCU is one of the crucial steps toward completing the agreement signed with Getin Holding (Poland) regarding the acquisition of shares in JSC "Idea Bank" by the "TAS" group," the press service noted.
It is emphasized that the next and final step for the legal completion of the agreement will be a decision by the National Bank regarding the approval of significant participation in JSC "Idea Bank".
"The necessary package of documents has been submitted for the regulator's review. A decision from the NBU is awaited," the "TAS" group stated.
Idea Bank (previously known as Plus Bank) was established in 1989. In June 2020, the deal to sell Idea Bank to former head of Alfa-Bank (Kyiv) Ivan Svitek and the Ukrainian investment company Dragon Capital was terminated: the parties could not agree on commercial terms within the stipulated timeframe. Later, Dragon Capital and Svitek managed to purchase Yunex Bank from "Smart Holding" owned by Vadim Novinsky before the war.
As reported, in February 2022, Getin Holding announced that it had failed for the second time to sell Idea Bank. The agreement signed on November 10, 2021, for the sale of its 100% shares to the First Ukrainian International Bank (PUMB, Kyiv) of Rinat Akhmetov was terminated due to non-fulfillment of all conditions for the transfer of ownership by February 25. After the termination of the agreement with PUMB, Getin Holding abandoned the sale of its Ukrainian subsidiary bank amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The NBU recognized the business reputation of both the Polish holding and its main owner Czarnecki as not impeccable on March 27, 2023. Consequently, the Ukrainian regulator temporarily deprived Getin Holding of voting rights for 100% of the shares in Idea Bank and set a one-year deadline for the holding and its main owner Leszek Czarnecki to rectify the violation, and after a year, refused to restore the holding's voting rights. Additionally, the NBU approved the appointment of Jacek Pechota, president of the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, as the trust manager of Idea Bank.
At the end of April this year, the NBU gave Getin Holding six months to sell its 100% stake in the charter capital of Idea Bank. A similar requirement was made regarding Czarnecki, who was asked by the National Bank to sell Getin Holding's 44.98% stake in Idea Bank within six months, offering as an alternative the sale of Czarnecki's stake in Getin Holding or his LC Corp BV, which owns 34.17% of Getin Holding.
Following this, in October 2024, the board of Getin Holding and the "TAS" group led by Sergey Tigipko signed a purchase and sale agreement for Idea Bank, with the base amount of the deal being $34 million.
The "TAS" group is one of the largest financial and industrial groups in Ukraine, represented in banking, insurance, railway engineering, metallurgy, packaging production, logistics, and agriculture.