NBU approves sale of Idea Bank to Tigipko
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) by its decision dated April 21 granted consent to the indirect acquisition by the owner of TAS Group, Sergiy Tigipko, of 100% of Idea Bank (Lviv), the seller - the Polish Getin Holding SA said in a stock exchange announcement on Tuesday.
"Thus, another condition for the transfer of ownership of Idea Bank Ukraine shares, specified in the agreement, was fulfilled," Getin Holding noted.
Earlier, on March 14 and March 27, the seller reported that due to the need to verify the submitted documents and information, the NBU extended the deadline for making a decision on approving the Idea Bank sale and purchase agreement for another 30 business days.
In February 2022, Getin noted that it had failed to sell Idea Bank for the second time. The agreement on the terms of the sale of its 100% shares to Rinat Akhmetov's First Ukrainian International Bank (FUIB, Kyiv) concluded on November 10, 2021 was terminated due to failure to fulfill all the conditions for the transfer of ownership by February 25. After terminating the agreement with FUIB, Getin refused to sell its Ukrainian subsidiary bank in the context of the war in Ukraine.
On March 27, 2023, the NBU recognized the business reputation of both the Polish holding company itself and its main owner, Leszek Czarnecki, as not impeccable. In this regard, the Ukrainian regulator temporarily deprived Getin of the right to vote for 100% of Idea Bank's shares and set a one-year deadline for the holding company and Czarnecki to eliminate the violation, and a year later refused to return the holding company's voting rights.
At the end of April 2024, the regulator gave Getin six months to sell its 100% stake in Idea Bank's authorized capital. A similar requirement was made to Czarnecki, from whom the National Bank demanded that Getin sell 44.98% of Idea Bank within six months, offering as an alternative to sell his stake in Getin or his LC Corp BV, which owns 34.17% in Getin.
After that, in October 2024, the Getin board and Tigipko's TAS Group signed a sale and purchase agreement for Idea Bank. The base amount of the deal was $34 million. In the same month, Getin received a decision from the NBU to extend the six-month period for the sale of Idea Bank until the end of January 2025.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine granted Tigipko permission for the transaction on December 12, 2024, and the National Bank of Ukraine at the end of January 2025 reported receiving a package of documents from Tigipko regarding the approval of the purchase of Idea Bank.
Idea Bank operates in the retail business segment and focuses on servicing individuals. The bank's main products are cash loans, credit cards, deposits, current accounts and debit cards.
As of March 1, 2025, Idea Bank's total assets amounted to UAH 12.68 billion, or 0.34% of the total assets of the banking system. By this indicator, it was 27th among 60 Ukrainian banks.
TAS Group is one of the largest financial and industrial groups in Ukraine, represented in the banking sector, insurance, railcar building, metallurgy, packaging materials production, logistics, agriculture, food industry and real estate.
The group owns Universal Bank and TAScombank with assets of UAH 157.12 billion (4.18%) and UAH 45.39 billion (1.21%) as of the beginning of March this year, respectively, occupying 8th and 15th positions in the market by this indicator.