KBC to buy Slovakia's 365.bank in deal valuing it at 761 million euros

By Jakob Van Calster and Mateusz Rabiega

(Reuters) - Belgian bank KBC Groep said on Thursday it has reached a cash agreement to acquire 98.45% of 365.bank, in a deal valuing the Slovakia-based lender at 761 million euros ($852 million).

KBC said the acquisition will help strengthen its presence in Slovakia and the Central and Eastern Europe region, and is its biggest deal since it acquired Raiffeisen Bank's Bulgarian operations in the summer of 2022.

"Our goal has always been and remains to strengthen our presence in Central and Eastern Europe ... Through this acquisition, we strengthen our geographical diversification (and) we continue to build market leadership in Slovakia," KBC CEO Johan Thijs said in a statement.

Thijs had told Reuters in February that he was keen to expand KBC's business in this area.

The offer represented a 1.4 multiple of 365.bank's book value by December 2024 and is expected to be finalised by the end of the year, pending regulatory approval, KBC said.

The deal would push ČSOB, KBC's wholly-owned subsidiary and the largest bank by assets in neighbouring Czech Republic, to a market share in Slovakia of around 16%.

The transaction would have an effect of about 50 basis points on KBC's common equity tier-1 ratio, which stood at 14.5% in the first quarter as the bank reiterated its ambition to be amongst the best-capitalised financial institutions in Europe.

($1 = 0.8935 euros)

(Reporting by Jakob Van Calster and Mateusz Rabiega in Gdansk; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Varun H K and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)