Nordea to acquire SG Finans for €575m and launch commercial partnership with SGEF

Frank Vang-Jensen (pictured), president and group chief executive officer of Nordea, said: “SG Finans runs a successful business with very satisfied customers in three of our four home markets. This acquisition strengthens our ability to advice and help small and medium-sized corporates with their financial needs.”

He added that SG Finans complements Nordea Finance well with its strong presence in Norway and direct distribution model.

SG Finans has a diversified customer base of about 50,000 corporates in Norway, Sweden and Denmark that will be able to access Nordea’s full product offerings once the deal is complete.

In recent years, Nordea has grown its operations in its Nordic core markets, including the acquisition of Norway-based Gjensidige Bank.

Alongside the transaction, Nordea Finance and Societe Generale Equipment Finance have entered into a commercial partnership agreement.

Through the partnership the two companies will offer a range of equipment finance solutions and services to international vendors.

ALD Automotive, Societe Generale’s vehicle leasing and fleet management arm, and Nordea Finance already operate a partnership to meet the mobility needs of corporates, SMEs and private individuals in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Philippe Heim, deputy chief executive officer of Societe Generale Group in charge of international retail banking activities, financial services and insurance, said: “With this agreement, Societe Generale makes once again a major step in the execution of its refocusing plan and demonstrates its ability to enter into long term partnerships. Societe Generale Equipment Finance is a leading player in equipment finance and Societe Generale will continue to leverage on SGEF’s ability to accompany its international vendors and clients and support the real economy.”

Societe Generale is the largest asset finance company in Europe according to the recently published Asset Finance Europe 50, while Nordea was placed in 20th place, based on financial performance to the end of December 2018. The acquisition could move Nordea as high as 10th place in the table, depending on future financial performance, while Societe Generale would retain its place as the largest asset finance company in Europe following substantial growth in recent years.

Nordea is the largest financial services group in the Nordic region and one of the biggest banks in Europe, with total assets of €551.4 billion in 2018. It serves customers in 20 countries, including its four Nordic home markets – Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

In addition to more than 9 million individual customers, it has 572,000 corporate customers.

Together with Danske Bank, DNB Bank, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, Svenska Handelsbanken and Swedbank, it has established a joint venture company to develop a platform for handling KYC (Know Your Customer) data.

The European Commission has approved the initiative and the joint venture company is preparing for its first commercial launch in 2020. The company is autonomous and will initially offer KYC services to the market concerning large and medium-sized companies based in the Nordic region.