Our 'BBB+' long-term issuer rating and stable outlook on Norwegian savings bank Haugesund Sparebank are unchanged following the completion of its merger with Tysnes Sparebank on 2 Sep. 2025. The merger, originally scheduled for the morning of 1 Sep., was delayed to the late afternoon of 2 Sep. due to administrative issues. In our view, this delay is not material and does not affect our assessment of the bank.
The merger between Haugesund Sparebank and Tysnes Sparebank was announced in Nov. 2023, with completion initially targeted for end-2024. However, in early September 2024, the merger was postponed due to a significant increase in loss provisions at Tysnes Sparebank. After adjustments to the ownership terms in the merger plan, the merger has now been completed.
Our rating on Haugesund Sparebank was first published on 28 Jun. 2024. Although the rating was assigned to Haugesund Sparebank as a standalone entity, our assessment incorporated our expectation that the merger would proceed. As a result, the completion of the merger does not have a direct impact on our issuer and issue ratings, nor on our outlook. We expect to conduct a forward-looking review of the merged bank in the coming months as the technical aspects of the merger are finalised.
With the merger, Haugesund Sparebank extends its geographic reach north towards Bergen, Norway's second-largest city. The merger adds approximately NOK 2.4bn in on-balance net loans and NOK 1.8bn in transferred mortgages to Haugesund Sparebank's exposures. The total loan book increases to NOK 20.3bn from NOK 16.4bn on a standalone basis.
Tysnes Sparebank has faced elevated Stage 3 exposures and has made significant loss provisions over the past twelve months. The revised merger plan from March included conditional ownership terms requiring Tysnes Sparebank to reduce net Stage 3 exposures prior to the merger. In our view, these measures have largely mitigated the downside risk related to the highest-risk exposures from Tysnes Sparebank.
This commentary does not constitute a rating action.
Contacts:
Ylva Forsberg, analyst, +46768806742, ylva.forsberg@nordiccreditrating.com
Christian Yssen, analyst, +4740019900, christian.yssen@nordiccreditrating.com