The Competition Council has examined the circumstances related to the transaction and concluded that the planned concentration would not lead to a dominating position or substantially restrict competition in relevant markets.
ERA Family Finance was founded by Artūras Rakauskas, president of the Kesko Senukai Lithuania Group, for the purpose of carrying out this acquisition.
PayRay Bank provides financial services to small- and medium-sized enterprises. In Lithuania, it provides lending, factoring and leasing services. A related company in Latvia provides financial services to business. The bank’s shareholder is a Luxembourg-registered holding 2404 S.A. The company’s ultimate shareholders are Luigi Grandi and Gabriele Balducci, businesspeople of Italian origin.
This year, the Bank of Lithuania identified certain violations and shortcomings in PayRay activities as regards accounting, credit risk management and delegation of functions. The bank was fined EUR 210,000 as a result. The Bank of Lithuania said it was not provided information about the financial state of the finance group that owns PayRay.