RIGA - GE Money, a Latvian consumer lending unit of U.S. corporation General Electric, is planning to launch operations in Lithuania and Estonia in the near future, GE Money Nordic and Baltic region head Niels Aall said at a Nov. 16 news conference. He indicated that GE Money had ambitious plans to expand and work in all three Baltic states.
The representative did not specify when the planned operations would be launched in Latvia's neighboring countries, but he noted that business in a new country could be started in three ways 's by acquiring an existing company, finding a cooperation partner or establishing an entirely new company. GE Money is said to be currently considering these options.
In Latvia, the company announced the purchase of 98 percent of Latvia's Baltic Trust Bank (BTB) in mid-October. The transaction was given the green light this week.
GE Money regional head Niels Aall stated that the acquired bank would eventually be merged into the larger parent company.
He could not say when and how the two companies will be merged.
GE Money board chairman Dmitrijs Cimbers told journalists that both companies would be involved in the active integration process during the coming months. Managers are expected to consider a possible change of the companies' names and range of products, as well as the management structure, before taking further decisions on business development.
"We hope that, by the first half of next year, we will be able to offer our existing and future clients a wider range of services and become more active not only in providing lending services, but in providing payment and deposit services to both individual and corporate clients," Cimbers said.
GE Money has disclosed neither the sum of the deal nor sale details. All that is known is that in mid-October, GE Money announced the purchase of 98 percent of BTB, but the deal needed approval from the Latvian Finance and Capital Markets Commission.
The American based arm of General Electric bought BTB from the Latvian investment firm Finstar Baltic Investments, which belongs to Russian millionaire Oleg Boiko and Wolff Investments Limited, a company registered in Cyprus.
BTB share capital was 15.6 million lats (22.2 million euros), at the end of September, and BTB ranked 13th among Latvia's 24 banks in terms of assets. The bank boasts one of the largest branch networks in Latvia.
The acquisition gives GE Money access to BTB's extensive network of 31 branch offices and 43 payment centers. BTB's credit profile exceeded 110 million lats in the first half of 2006. BTB has more than 110,000 clients, with a pre-tax profit of 2.6 million lats during the first half of this year.
GE Money launched operations in Latvia's consumer lending market in May 2004, by purchasing the consumer credit company RD Lizinga Grupa. In August of this year, the company registered a branch of Swedish bank GE Money Bank AB in Latvia, and in November GE Money established GE Money Latvia Holdings for the planned takeover of BTB.
