RIGA, Feb 25 (LETA) - The Competition Council has allowed Citadele bank to acquire leasing company UniCredit Leasing and UniCredit Insurance Broker, the Competition Council informed LETA.

The deal will have no impact on competition, the Competition Council has concluded.

The Competition Council points out that Citadele bank is a credit institution in Latvia that provides traditional banking and financial services, including lending services. Citadele bank is part of Citadele Group that also includes Citadele Lizings un Faktorings, which provides various types of leasing and factoring services. Citadele Group companies also provide life insurance and investment management services.

UniCredit Leasing, on the other hand, mostly provides leasing services, but it also provides lending and financing services, while UniCredit Insurance Broker provides insurance and reinsurance brokerage services in risk insurance.

Having assessed all factors, the Competition Council has concluded that the merger will not cause any significant changes in the market structure, impair competition or create a dominant position for any of the market players. Therefore, the merger is permissible.

As reported, Citadele has entered into a binding agreement with UniCredit S.p.A. to acquire 100 percent of the shares in UniCredit Leasing's Baltic business, along with its 100 percent owned subsidiary UniCredit Insurance Broker.

The Estonian competition authority has also authorized acquisition of UniCredit Leasing by Citadele.

In 2018, UniCredit Leasing posted EUR 24.891 million in turnover, while the company's profit amounted to EUR 10.715 million, according to Firmas.lv. UniCredit Leasing has been operating in Latvia since 1999.

At the end of September 2019, Citadele was the fourth largest bank in Latvia by assets. Citadele Bank has its headquarters in Latvia with branches in Lithuania and Estonia, as well as a subsidiary bank in Switzerland.

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