Sweden’s Handelsbanken to sell Finnish businesses for $1.4 bln

OSLO, May 31 (Reuters) – Sweden’s Handelsbanken said on Wednesday it has agreed to sell parts of its Finnish operation to three local companies for about 1.3 billion euros ($1.43 billion), equal to the net assets of the divested businesses.

Handelsbanken will also receive a small premium of up to 8.5 million euros on top of the net asset value, with the deal expected to close in the second half of 2024, it added.

Private customer, asset management and investment services operations were sold to S-Bank, small and medium-sized enterprise operations were sold to Oma Savings Bank OMASP.HE and life insurance operations to Fennia, Handelsbanken said.

Oma Savings Bank separately said the deal was “really positive” and would boost the company’s position among small and medium enterprises in Finland.

“The growing business volumes further improve OmaSp’s cost efficiency and business profitability and has a material impact on the annual profit-making ability,” Oma CEO Pasi Sydanlammi said in a statement.

($1 = 0.9084 euros)