Following the receipt of the required financial and competition authority approvals, the Slovenian fund manager will continue operating as part of OTP Group under the name OTP Skladi d.o.o. The purchase price will not be disclosed, in line with the agreement between the parties.

“The joint acquisition by OTP Fund Management and OTP banka d.d. not only further strengthens our presence in the Slovenian capital market, but also shows that, building on cooperation within OTP Group, we are able to create lasting value in new markets as well,” said Attila Bánfi, chairman of the board of OTP Fund Management and managing director of OTP Bank Global Markets.

He added that the local presence of OTP banka d.d. and OTP Fund Management’s more than three decades of investment management experience form a strong combination on which the group can build over the long term.

For OTP Fund Management, the transaction represents both a regional expansion milestone and further evidence that its professional expertise can be successfully applied not only in the domestic market but also across Central and Eastern Europe.

While OTP banka d.d.’s Slovenian offering will be expanded with locally managed investment funds, OTP Fund Management is further strengthening its regional role in Slovenia after building a presence in Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine and Serbia.

The move fits into OTP Group’s broader effort to make banking and investment services available in more markets in a mutually reinforcing way. The cooperation between OTP Fund Management and OTP banka d.d. is entering a new phase, with the two companies set to work in a coordinated manner on integrating products, processes and operating standards, as well as on the gradual brand transition of OTP Skladi d.o.o.

“While preserving our leading role in Hungary, international expansion is receiving increasing emphasis in our strategy,” said György Éder, CEO of OTP Fund Management.

According to Éder, the newly completed acquisition allows the company to enter more strongly into a market with favorable long-term growth prospects, where OTP Fund Management can make good use of the knowledge and experience it has accumulated over more than 30 years.

The Slovenian investment fund market has expanded steadily over the past five years, pointing to an increasingly mature investor environment. Although the local capital market is still developing, the strengthening of investment culture and demand for investment products offering higher yield potential suggest that the market still has significant room for growth.

“It is of key importance to us that, alongside banking solutions, we are able to provide our clients with as complete a value proposition as possible in investment services as well,” said András Hámori, chairman of the board of OTP banka d.d.

He added that the acquisition strengthens OTP Group’s local financial services offering and, over time, could provide Slovenian clients with access to an even wider range of investment opportunities.