Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale is set to acquire Oldenburgische Landesbank (OLB), a regional bank in northern Germany, in a surprising move given OLB’s long-standing consideration of a stock market listing.

The deal was announced on Thursday by both OLB and Targo Deutschland, the German subsidiary of the French banking group.

Neither company disclosed the financial details of the transaction.

Last month, OLB’s CEO, Stefan Barth, stated that market conditions for an initial public offering (IPO) were the most favorable in years, raising expectations that the bank would soon go public.

In a statement announcing the acquisition, OLB said that merging with Targo would position it as the tenth-largest banking group in Germany in terms of assets.

“This acquisition marks a significant strategic step for Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale in executing its long-term growth plan,” Targo said in a statement.

OLB’s current shareholders include Apollo Global Management, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas—Texas’ public pension fund for educators—and Grovepoint Investment Management.

Frankfurt has seen only a handful of banking IPOs over the past 25 years, according to data from stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse. One of the most recent listings in the sector was that of Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, a real estate finance specialist, which went public in 2015.