Dubai Bank to Buy Turkey’s Denizbank for $3.2 Billion

Dubai’s biggest lender the National Bank of Dubai has agreed to buy Turkey’s Denizbank from Russia’s state-owned Sberbank for $3.2 billion to help establish itself as a leading bank in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, Reuters reported. Denizbank is the fifth-largest private bank in Turkey and the biggest asset held by Sberbank outside Russia. The sale is part of a strategy by Russia’s top lender to divest overseas businesses to focus on its domestic market. The deal is the biggest ever acquisition by Emirates NBD, which had said in January it was in talks to buy the Russian lender’s stake in Denizbank. The transaction comes against a backdrop of Turkey’s strained relations with Persian Gulf Arab states since Ankara stood by Qatar after the UAE, Saudi Arabia and others accused Doha of supporting terrorism, a charge it denies. Denizbank has assets of 169.4 billion lira ($37.25 billion) and operates 751 branches, including 43 outside Turkey, while Emirates NBD has banks in the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and offices in China and Indonesia.