ECB grants preliminary approval for Advent's majority acquisition of Bulgaria's tbi bank

The European Central Bank (ECB) has granted a preliminary authorisation for Bago, a Luxembourg-based portfolio company of U.S.-headquartered private equity giant Advent International, to directly acquire a majority stake in Bulgaria's tbi bank, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) said in a press release on Friday.

The BNB noted that since October 1, 2020, when Bulgaria joined the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the ECB has held exclusive competence to assess notifications of acquisitions of qualifying holdings in credit institutions, in coordination with the Bulgarian central bank.

The European Commission approved the acquisition in August.

Advent announced in April last year that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire tbi bank from 4finance Holding, one of Europe's largest digital consumer lending groups. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Currently operating in Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece, tbi combines financing and shopping solutions as part of a broader digital ecosystem strategy. The challenger bank works with more than 32,000 merchant partner check-out points across various digital channels and serves over 2.4 million customers.

In 2024, tbi bank issued nearly 1 million loans and posted a record net profit of €50 million, 18% higher year-on-year based on audited consolidated financial results.

Why it matters:

For Southeast Europe's financial sector, the deal signals sustained private equity appetite for scalable, tech-driven banking platforms. The transaction also reflects a broader consolidation and institutionalisation trend in the region's non-bank and consumer finance space. With Advent acquiring tbi from 4finance, ownership shifts from a specialised digital lender to a global private equity sponsor, potentially supporting further capital injection, product expansion, and cross-border scaling.