Erste Bank Enters Ukraine.

Erste Bank, Austria’s second-largest lender, announced on Friday that it had agreed to pay $35.3 m for 50.5% of Prestige Bank, which ranks 72nd among Ukrainian banks with assets of $83.6m as of April 1. Erste said it also expected to invest up to $150m in expanding the bank, which was established only in January by the former owners of Bank Aval (which was bought by Erste’s rival Raiffeisen last year). The deal is subject to official approval in Ukraine and Austria with completion expected by October. Alexander Viktorov: Using Prestige’s reported book value of $59m as of April 1, the price implies a P/B multiple of 1.18 – a fair price for a six-month-old bank. We expect Erste to look at buying another Ukrainian bank as a way to speed up its expansion.