Credit Agricole concludes Emporiki takeover

TIRANA, June 14 – France’s Crꥩt Agricole SA has concluded the full purchase of Greek-owned Emporiki Bank Albania. The purchase was part of a larger operation allowing Credit Agricole to take control of assets in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania of its Greek subsidiary Emporiki Bank amid concern over a possible Greek euro exit.
“This intra-group transaction is the last step of a process developed since the beginning of 2009 to reinforce links between Credit Agricole S.A. and Emporiki Group’s subsidiaries,” Emporiki said.
After the closing of this operation, Emporki Bank Albania will adopt Crꥩt Agricole’s name with its commercial trademark and logo.
The Emporiki Bank in Albania holds slightly more than 2 percent of total assets.
The deal is subject to approval from the relevant central banks.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that one of the scenarios that Credit Agricole was looking at was to pull out of Greece and Emporiki, or the possibility of merging with other banks in case of a eurozone exit.
Emporiki has been a source of heavy losses for Credit Agricole ever since the French bank bought the Greek lender in 2006. In June, Moody’s ratings agency downgraded Emporiki by two notches to just one step from default status.
Another French bank, Societe Generale, owns Greek lender Geniki which was also downgraded by two notches due to the heightened risks.