Greek ATEBank sells Romanian subsidy
2011-10-11 12:40:39
ATEbank (Agriculture Bank of Greece) announced on Tuesday it is selling its Romanian subsidiary, ATEbank România.
It said, in a statement, that its board decided the employment of financial advisors in order to commence the divestment process from its participation in Dodoni SA and ATEBank Romania. It also decided the acquisition of the participation of International Finance Corporation (15 per cent) in ATEBank Romania, in the context of the existing shareholders agreement.
The Greek bank is currently doing a restructuring program, approved by the European Commission, agreed back in May.
State-owned ATE Bank Greece controls 74.12 per cent of ATE Bank Romania, next to International Finance Corporation, which holds 15 per cent of shares.
The merge of Greece's second and third largest banks, EFG Eurobank and Alpha Bank, officially announced in August will influence the Romanian banking system ranking too, where they have subsidies.
In Romania, they will reach the third place in the banking system ranking, by assets, with total assets of 30 billion RON.
Alpha Bank Romania is the 8th large bank in Romania, by assets, with 4 billion Euros (17 billion RON), while Eurobank's Bancpost is 9th largest on the local market, with 3 billion Euros (13 billion RON) assets.
Bancpost was funded by the state in 1991 and in November 2002 it became the first fully privatized bank in Romania, when it became a member of Eurobank EFG. It has over 3.500 employees and over 280 units in the country.
Alpha Bank Romania was funded in 1993, by Alpha Bank Group and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), under the name Banca Bucuresti. It is called Alpha Bank Romania since 2000. Alpha Bank Group became a majority shareholder (99.43 per cent) of it in 2005. It has over 2.500 employees in Romania.