site.btaEuropean Central Bank Grants Preliminary Approval for Bago’s Majority Acquisition of TBI Bank

The European Central Bank (ECB) adopted a decision by which it issued a preliminary authorization for the direct acquisition by Bago (Luxembourg) S.a r.l. of a qualifying holding which exceeds the threshold of 50% of the shares in the capital and voting rights in TBI Bank EAD, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) reported on Friday.

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

Since October 1, 2020, when Bulgaria joined the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the ECB has had the exclusive competence to assess notifications of acquisitions of qualifying holdings in credit institutions, with the relevant interaction with the BNB.

In April 2025, TBI Bank announced that digital consumer credit group 4finance Holding S.A. signed a definitive agreement to sell TBI Bank, through its subsidiary TBI Financial Services B.V. to Advent International, a leading global private equity investor. At the time, the bank specified that the transaction was subject to the usual regulatory approvals. The bank also reported that the transaction was expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2025.