Raiffeisen Buys BBVA’s Romanian Garanti Unit for €591 Million

Raiffeisen Bank International AG is buying BBVA’s Romanian Garanti unit for €591 million ($680 million) as it refocuses operations in central and eastern Europe to move past difficulties at its Russian unit.

The Austrian lender will become the third-largest bank in Romania after the deal, which includes the BBVA leasing unit Motoractive IFN, the Viennese lender said in a statement Saturday. It confirmed an earlier Bloomberg report that the two firms were in advanced talks on the transaction.