PPF Group is set to acquire Telenor’s Serbian banking and mobile finance arm, an agreement set to be tied into a wider deal to buy the mobile operator group’s assets across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

In a statement, PPF Group – which has a wide range of interests in the region – said the deal for Telenor Banka was a “natural follow-up” to its purchase of Telenor’s mobile assets in Hungary, Bulgaria and Montenegro announced during March.

Telenor Banka counts 390,000 customers across its various banking products including mainstream, online and mobile finance services. It also supplies in-store mobile cash transfer and ATM withdrawals through mobile handsets.

The transaction is subject to approval from the country’s regulators and is, according to Radio Prague, contingent on approval of its €2.8 billion deal for Telenor’s other assets, which is expected to clear in Q3 2018.

PPF Group is a Czech Republic-headquartered investment company with a number of business units across the CEE region including Bulgarian broadcast company Nova Broadcasting Group and O2 Czech Republic.

Telenor’s sale of its CEE operations is part of a strategy to focus on key markets in Scandinavia and its target markets in Asia.