OREANDA-NEWS. August 03, 2010. The Latvian finance and capital market commission granted permission to “Finasta Holding”, a public limited liability company of SNORAS group, to purchase from “Latvijas Krajbanka” two asset management companies. Together with the already acquired AS “Pirmais atklatais pensiju fonds”, “Finasta Holding” obtained 100 per cent of the shares of the asset management companies AS IPS “LKB Krajfondi” and AS IPS “LKB Asset Management”. The sum of the transaction is not announced, reported the press-centre of SNORAS group.

This step finishes the process whereby the activity of all asset management companies of Bank SNORAS group is concentrated in “Finasta” group. Until now “Finasta Asset Management, managing investment and pension funds, belonged to “Finasta” group in Latvia, which has more than fifteen years of experience in the sphere of asset management and investment.

“Acquisition of these companies is the beginning of the new stage of the grofup development in Latvia. We remain and we continue endeavouring to remain the leaders of the regional investment banking and asset management. The results of “Finasta”, the asset management company which has been operating in Latvia for a number of years, are good; therefore, it lets us make an assumption that we have already warmed up in the neighbouring country and we are prepared for further expansion,” says Andrius Barstys, the general director of the group’s investment bank “Finasta”.

Seeking to optimize the management of the acquired companies, it is planned to reorganize them. Their business development strategy will also be revised. All agreements of the acquired companies signed with the clients and partners and their conditions do not change and will remain valid. Clients in Latvia will continue to be provided services from “Latvijas Krajbanka”, which will be distributing all funds that have been managed until now.    

About AB “Finasta Holding”: “Finasta Holding” manages “Finasta” group which provides investment services. Founded in 1993, “Finasta” is the largest group, which unifies the companies providing services of investment banking and asset management, in the Baltic region. The group comprises the following companies: AB Bank “Finasta”, AB FMI “Finasta”, AB “Finasta Corporate Finance”, UAB “Finasta  Asset  Management”  (operating in the Lithuanian and Latvian markets) and ZAO  “SNORAS Capital Markets Limited” operating in the Russian Federation. The only shareholder of “Finasta Holding” is AB Bank SNORAS group. The preserved assets of “Finasta” comprise EUR 1.73 billion (12 per cent of the market).
 
About AB “Latvijas Krajbanka”: AB “Latvijas Krajbanka” is the oldest bank in Latvia, which manages the most expansive customer service network: 150 customer service subdivisions, 34 of which are mini-banks and 194 are ATMs. The bank provides its services to approx. 300 thousand clients.