With a 50-year track record in CEE and a unique on-the-ground presence in eight markets, supported by a 12-banker hub in London, Citi uniquely combines cross-border advisory with deep domestic distribution. This depth translated into a 13% share of all announced CEE investment banking deal value last year thanks to a balanced mix across M&A, equity and debt products.
Citi’s local reach, from Warsaw to Bucharest, coupled with its formidable sales and trading platform, allowed it to move capital even while maintaining an uninterrupted presence in wartime Ukraine.
On the advisory side, Citi played a central role in several of the region’s defining transactions. It guided Blackstone through the €1.3 billion refinancing of Romanian sports betting operator Superbet, comprising credit and equity elements, alongside funds and accounts managed by HPS Investment Partners, to finance the company’s international expansion.
The bank also advised Santander on the €6.8 billion sale of its 49% stake in Santander Bank Polska and 50% of its Polish asset management arm, TFI, to Austria’s Erste Group, a deal that reshaped the ownership landscape of Polish banking. Other landmark mandates included Bank Handlowy’s $295 million divestment of its BHW consumer banking portfolio to challenger lender VeloBank, Trendyol’s $700 million sale of its local commerce subsidiary Trendyol Go to Uber, and Advent International’s $2.5 billion acquisition of Formula Systems’ stake in insurance software provider Sapiens International.
The bank combined local insight and global scale to channel capital to the region’s most urgent needs
Citi emerged as the undisputed leader in CEE equity capital markets, ranking first by wallet share, deal value and number of transactions. It served as joint global coordinator on the year’s largest regional initial public offering – the $418 million listing of Polish medical diagnostics chain Diagnostyka, which delivered private equity owner MidEuropa a full 48% exit and saw the share price rise more than 70% from issue.
The bank also priced the region’s largest overall equity deal of the year, a $702 million secondary placement in Polish e-commerce platform Allegro, and reopened the Turkish equity market internationally through offerings for healthcare group MLP Care, transformer manufacturer Astor Enerji and real estate developer Rönesans Gayrimenkul.
Sovereign debt lead
In debt capital markets, Citi raised roughly $47 billion for sovereign clients, $12 billion for corporates and about $10 billion for financial institutions. Sovereign highlights included Poland’s €3 billion dual tranche offering, which attracted a combined an impressive peak orderbook of more than €10 billion, Montenegro’s debut $750 million dollar issue that drew a peak book of $4.7 billion, equivalent to a 6.2 times oversubscription, and Hungary’s €2.5 billion green bond.
The bank also delivered the largest-ever CEE dollar corporate bond with Orlen’s debut $1.25 billion 10-year offering, a €700 million green issue for Czech utility Energo-Pro, and a €350 million debut bond for Polish logistics real estate developer DL Invest Group, where Citi acted as sole ratings adviser. On the financial institutions side, Polish lender mBank’s €500 million senior non-preferred green bond attracted an orderbook of over €4.3 billion, the largest CEE order book for a senior or senior non-preferred offering in 2025.
What ties these headline transactions together is Citi’s ability to leverage its international platform. Whether enabling sponsor exits, catalysing green finance or rebuilding liquidity in volatile markets such as Turkey, the bank combined local insight and global scale to channel capital to the region’s most urgent needs, while consistently delivering tight pricing and resilient aftermarket performance for issuers and investors alike.
