A consortium led by global alternative asset manager The Blackstone Group has agreed to acquire a 60 percent stake in Baltics-focused Luminor Bank for EUR1 billion (approximately US$1.2 billion) in cash. The consortium will acquire the stake from financial services groups Nordea and DNB, which are based in Sweden and Norway, respectively. The two Scandinavia-based banks established Luminor in 2017 by merging their Baltic operations. After the transaction, Nordea and DNB will each retain a 20 percent stake in Luminor, although Nordea has entered into a forward sale agreement to exit its stake to Blackstone in the coming years. In the long term, the acquiring consortium reportedly plans to seek a public listing for Luminor. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in the first half of 2019.