Hungary's OTP buys Baltic bank Luminor in its largest-ever acquisition

OTP Bank Nyrt.

21/07/2026 09:36

BUDAPEST, July 21 (Reuters) - Hungary's OTP Bank OTPB.BU, central Europe's largest independent lender, said it has agreed to buy Luminor Bank, the third-largest bank in the Baltics region.
OTP said late on Monday that the deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, marked its largest acquisition to date and would increase its total assets by approximately 13%.
OTP said it was buying 100% of the shares in Luminor Holding, the parent of Luminor Bank, from DNB Bank and a consortium of private equity funds managed by Blackstone.
Luminor's total assets stood at €15.9 billion in 2025, while its profit after tax reached €158 million with a return on equity of 8.6%, OTP said in a statement.
OTP's shares were up by 3.1% at 0820 GMT on Tuesday. 
"The Baltic states are European Union members, with a stable political background and low credit exposure, which definitely looks like a good deal," Andras Takacs, an equity analyst at Brokerage Equilor, said.
"OTP has not expanded northwards so far, it has moved southwards and eastwards, so with this step OTP could become a dominant bank in central and eastern Europe," Takacs added. 

(Reporting by Anita Komuves; Editing by Alexander Smith)
((KOMUVES.Anita@thomsonreuters.com;))