ECB grants preliminary authorisation for acquisition of Bulgaria’s TBI Bank

The European Central Bank (ECB) adopted a decision on February 13 by which it issued a preliminary authorisation for the direct acquisition by Bago (Luxembourg) S.à r.l. of a qualifying holding which exceeds the threshold of 50 per cent of the shares in the capital and voting rights in TBI Bank EAD, Bulgarian National Bank said.

Bago (Luxembourg) S.à r.l. is a portfolio company of Advent International L.P., authorised by the US Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment adviser and is one of the world´s largest private equity firms.

Bulgarian National Bank said that since October 1 2020, when Bulgaria joined the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the ECB has the exclusive competence to assess notifications of acquisitions of qualifying holdings in credit institutions, with the relevant interaction with the Bulgarian central bank.

Advent announced on April 22 2025 that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire tbi bank (“tbi”), a leading tech-led challenger bank in Southeast Europe and regional leader in payment plan solutions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Currently operating in Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece, tbi is building an ecosystem by combining financing and shopping to address customers’ needs, Advent said.

Through various digital channels and trusted partnerships with over 32 000 merchant partner check-out points, tbi has a customer base of over 2.4 million and nearly 1 000 000 loans issued in 2024, the statement said.

“Its digital-first business model and customer-focused approach has resulted in tbi becoming one of the leading and fastest growing challenger banks in the region,” Advent said.

As The Sofia Globe reported at the time, the European Commission (EC) said on August 12 that it had approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of sole control of TBI Bank EAD of Bulgaria by Advent International L.P. of the US.

The transaction relates primarily to the banking sector in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania, the EC said.