The first phase of the deal between Citadele and ABLV for the purchase of the majority of ABLV Bank in liquidation’s mortgage portfolio has been completed. Citadele’s mortgage portfolio has now been increased by several thousand mortgage agreements totalling more than €120 million.
The second phase of the transaction is expected to be finalised by the end of the year, and will involve mortgage agreements in amount of around €50 million. Customers whose loans have been transferred to Citadele will be informed personally about the new process for repaying their loans.
“We have worked hard to complete the deal in as short time as possible. We are pleased to give our new customers access to modern financial services and products, excellent customer service and a wide range of digital products,” explains Johan Åkerblom, Citadele CEO.
“Having transferred the majority of our mortgage loan portfolio to Citadele, we have now completed our most significant asset reclamation project and have accumulated enough funds to satisfy our creditors. We are pleased that we completed the first phase in a relatively short amount of time, and that Citadele has successfully taken over serving our customers. To finish, I would like to thank our former mortgage customers for our good partnership up until this point,” adds Andris Kovaļčuks, Liquidator, ABLV Bank, AS in liquidation.
Superia Corporate Finance acted as head financial adviser to the seller.
About Citadele Bank
Citadele’s mission is to modernise the banking sector and offer more opportunities to clients and businesses throughout the Baltics.
Alongside classic banking services, Citadele offers its clients a range of services based on next-generation financial technology, including its modern app, contactless payments and instant payments, and finally, being the first in the Baltics to introduce opening an account with a selfie, payment rings and payments to mobile numbers.
Citadele is the second largest bank in Latvia by assets. The Citadele group is managed from Latvia. Its subsidiaries and branches operate in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
About ABLV Bank, AS in liquidation
On 26 February 2018, the meeting of shareholders of ABLV Bank, AS took a decision about voluntary liquidation of the bank. Before the commencement of this voluntary liquidation, the bank was one of the largest loan providers in Latvia, ensuring mortgage loans for households and financing for commercial companies, thus contributing to the development of various industries. At that time, the total loan portfolio of the bank amounted to 1 billion Euro.