European banking regulators have cleared the planned takeover of a majority stake in small Greek shipping lender Aegean Baltic Bank (ABBank) by the UK-based billionaire investor Aristotelis (Telis) Mistakidis.
The former Glencore commodity trader has successfully completed the “fit-and-proper assessment” by the Bank of Greece and the European Central Bank (ECB), ABBank said in a statement.
Mistakidis entered ABBank after other investors, including the Coustas family, agreed to sell their participation in the firm.
ABBank has about €1.2bn ($1.25bn) in assets, up by about a one-tenth from the previous year.
Under ECB rules, “fit-and-proper assessments” look into “whether members of the management body of a supervised credit institution (and key function holders where relevant under national law) are suitable for their roles”.
This allows the intended takeover of a controlling stake in the lender by Mistakidis to go ahead, the completion of which is now expected within the first quarter of 2025.
ABBank said that the entry of Mistakidis “marks the beginning of a new era of strong development and growth”.
Mistakidis already bought a 5% stake in the firm over the summer, as TradeWinds reported at the time.
The larger transaction, which is yet to be completed, will see the investor increase his holding to 48% and then to a controlling stake in the wake of a share capital increase.
This is a friendly takeover, in cooperation with the founding Afthonidis family, which maintains management and a shareholding in the firm.
“Mr Mistakidis expressed his trust in the board of directors, the management team and the employees of ABBank,” ABBank added on Sunday.
ABBank’s second-largest shareholder is the Afthonidis family with a 24% stake that will eventually increase to 28%. The Tsakos family also owns 24%.
Mistakidis entered ABBank after other investors, including the Coustas family, agreed to sell their participation in the firm.
The company posted a net income of €21.4m between January and September, compared with a full-year 2023 profit of €27m.
S&P Global has a “B+” credit rating on the company, with a positive outlook.
Scope Ratings began covering the company earlier this year with a stable “BB” rating.
