Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) announced on April 30, 2012 the formal closing of the acquisition of a 70 per cent share in Polish Polbank EFG S.A. (Polbank) from EFG Eurobank Ergasias S.A. Dewey & LeBoeuf’s Warsaw and London teams advised RBI on this acquisition. Concurrently, Eurobank EFG and RBI transferred their respective 30% and 70% shareholdings in Polbank to Raiffeisen Bank Polska S.A. (RBPL), RBI’s existing universal bank in Poland. As a consequence of the transaction, RBPL will be owned in 87% by RBI and in 13% by EFG Eurobank.

With its strong retail focus, Polbank will complement RBPL, which is very well positioned in the corporate segment. The combined business – under the name Raiffeisen Polbank – will become RBI’s largest subsidiary in terms of customer loan volumes, will service more than 900,000 customers and rank number 6 in Poland by customer loans. Following the merger, the combined bank will be listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The acquisition considerably strengthens RBI’s position in Central Europe. 

The Dewey & LeBoeuf team was led by London Partner Stephen Horvath and Warsaw Local Partner Łukasz Pawlak, supported by London Partner James McNally and Associate Nicky Maan, Warsaw Senior Partner Lejb Fogelman, Warsaw Local Partners Dorota Przelaskowska and Michał Fereniec and Associate Agata Jakubczak.