Tigipko buys Idea Bank for almost $37 million
24 April 16:17
On April 23, Polish financial holding Getin Holding SA sold 100% of Idea Bank’s shares to Cyprus-based Alkemi Limited, owned by Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Tihipko. Under the terms of the agreement, Getin Holding received $36.5 million for the shares.
This was reported by the press service of Getin Holding SA, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The deal was concluded on the basis of a conditional sale and purchase agreement dated October 18, 2024.
In addition, on April 22, 2025, an exclusive agreement was signed with the buyer, under which the holding received an additional fee of €169,344. Under the assignment agreement dated April 23, Getin Holding transferred the rights to funds from the deposit of Idea Bank for UAH 30.24 million.
Idea Bank is one of the oldest banks in the Ukrainian market. It was registered in August 1989 as Prykarpatlisbank, a bank for the development of the forestry and woodworking industry. In 2007, Idea Bank came under the control of the Polish group Getin Holding SA.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of the beginning of March 2025, the total assets of Idea Bank amounted to UAH 12.68 billion, or 0.34% of the total assets of the banking system. By this indicator, it was 27th among 60 Ukrainian banks. At that time, the bank’s net assets amounted to UAH 7.84 billion.
In 2020, the owner of the Polish Idea Bank, Leszek Czarnecki, became a subject of an investigation in Poland, and the bank itself was transferred to Pekao SA due to debts. Idea Bank has already tried to sell in 2021 and 2022, but to no avail. In particular, in February 2022, due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the deal to sell Idea Bank to FUIB Of Rinat Akhmetov.
In March 2023, the NBU recognized the business reputation of Getin Holding and Charnetsky as not impeccable, temporarily depriving the holding of the right to vote for 100% of Idea Bank’s shares and setting a one-year deadline for remediation. In 2024, the NBU refused to restore the voting rights and ordered Getin Holding to sell the bank by October 29, 2024.
on April 22, 2025, the NBU approved the indirect acquisition of 100% of Idea Bank’s shares by TAS Group owner Sergey Tigipko. This was the decisive step to finalize the deal.
