Clifford Chance advised BNP Paribas with regard to an agreement with UniCredit Bank AG in order to acquire the latter's interest in DAB Bank of approx. 81.39%. By means of this transaction, BNP Paribas intends to considerably expand its digital banking business in Europe and to nearly double the number of its clients in Germany. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory and antitrust approval.

In Germany, BNP Paribas' network already covers a very broad range of client segments from retail to corporate and institutional (12 business lines and 4,000 people). The Group is primarily involved with private individuals via Cortal Consors, one of the largest European players in the online banking services sector. BNP Paribas has strong growth targets in this sector in Germany and the transaction serves these targets very well as DAB Bank's customers are primarily based in Germany and Austria.

The Clifford Chance team was led by partner Dr. Thomas Krecek and included counsel Matthias Will, senior associates Stefan Bruder, Jan Wittrodt and Oliver Polster and transaction lawyers Moritz Erdmann and Julia Tremmel (all Corporate), partner Dr. Marc Benzler, associates Michael Feyrer and Dr. Christian Hissnauer (all Banking & Capital Markets/ Regulatory), partner Dr. Stefan Simon, associate Jens Peters (both Employment Law), partner Dr. Felix Mühlhäuser and counsel Olaf Mertgen (both Tax) – all Frankfurt – as well as partner Marc Besen, senior associate Dr. Dimitri Slobodenjuk and associate Miriam Kammer (all Antitrust, Düsseldorf).