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Cobalt and Sorainen Advise on Nordea-DNB Combination in the Baltics

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Cobalt is advising DNB Bank and Sorainen is advising Nordea on the agreement between the two to combine their operations in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. DNB’s and Nordea's Baltic operations have EUR 5 billion and EUR 8 billion in assets, respectively.

Nordea and DNB will have equal voting rights over the combined bank, while maintaining different economic ownership levels that reflect the relative equity value of their contribution to the combined bank at the time of closing. The transaction is conditional upon regulatory approvals and conditions, and is expected to close around Q2 2017. The banks will operate independently until all necessary approvals have been received.   

According to a DNB press release describing the agreement, "Nordea’s and DNB’s operations in the Baltics are a great match, with complementary lines of business. Nordea has built a strong position within the large corporate segment whereas DNB is strong in the SME segment. Together, the banks will also have an even larger and more competitive retail business. Furthermore, the combined bank will have a strong geographic presence, with Nordea’s strong Estonian, DNB’s strong Lithuanian and jointly strong Latvian footprints. Nordea’s and DNB’s Baltic operations have 1300 and 1800 employees ... respectively.”  

“Combining knowledge of the Baltic market, close cooperation with our customers and developments in digital banking, Nordea has over the years built a solid and successful bank in the Baltic region with a strong position as number three in the Baltics, said Inga Skisaker, Head of Banking Baltic Countries, Nordea. "Now it is time to take the next step and build for the future. Together we will have the scale, stronger geographic presence and broader product offering enabling us to become the main bank for customers in the Baltics.”  

“With over 70 branches in the Baltics, DNB has created dynamic and customer-centric operations,” said Mats Wermelin, Head of Baltic Division, DNB. "Scale is key in banking today, with larger banks having more efficient use of resources. The new bank will be better equipped to counter increasing competition in the region and capitalize on scale in order to become the main bank for more businesses, customers and partners in the Baltics.”   

The Cobalt team advising DNB Bank in Estonia was led by Partners Peeter Kutman, Kristel Raidla-Talur, and Elo Tamm, and Senior Associate Heleri Tammiste, in Latvia by Managing Partner Dace Silava–Tomsone, Partner Toms Sulmanis, and Specialist Counsel Andrejs Lielkalns, and in Lithuania Managing Partner Irmantas Norkus and Managing Associates Eva Suduiko and Ieva Sodeikaite.  

The pan-Baltic Sorainen team was led by Partners Rudolfs Engelis, Tomas Kontautas, and Reimo Hammerberg, and included Lithuania-based Senior Associate Daiva Liubomirskiene and Specialist Counsel Mantas Petkevicius, Latvia-based Senior Associates Santa Rubina and Janis Bite, and Estonia-based Senior Associates Jane Eespold and Piret Lappert.

Image Source: Olga355

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