Erste Group Bank Chief Executive Officer Andreas Treichl said on Friday he would do “everything in his power” to avoid a potential listing of its Romanian unit Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) in Bucharest, as the operation would negatively affect the group, Mediafax informs.
“To me this is a closed topic. It is my clear wish to convince everybody who is involved that a listing of BCR is not necessary,” Treichl told a news conference in Vienna.
Erste, owner of a 69.4 per cent stake in BCR, was floated on the Bucharest Stock Exchange in February 2008.
“We have made a major effort to bring Erste group to the Bucharest stock exchange…The quality of Erste will be negatively affected if BCR is listed,” Treichl said. Treichl added he will be “very angry” if the operation were to happen despite his opposition. Treichl’s statements come a few days after a group of minority investors requested BCR shareholders met to discuss listing its shares in Bucharest.
Under the privatization deal, Erste was supposed to float BCR’s shares by October 2009 at the latest. However, the Austrian bank and the five SIFs have agreed to delay the procedures until 2011.
In response to Treichl’s statement, the Capital Market Investors’ Association (AIPC) calls on Erste Bank to abide by the commitment regarding BCR’s listing at the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) and reiterates that minority shareholders can compel the Austrian financial group to list the bank on the stock market.
On the other hand, Treichl estimated Friday Romanian lending will pick up over the next period as the economy rebounds from the crisis. Speaking at a news conference in Vienna, Treichl also said Romanian economy should recover enough so that it would stand possible slippages caused by the elections next year.
Dominic Bruynseels, president of Erste’s Romanian subsidiary Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), said he expects business to increase in the coming months, particularly on the corporate segment. BCR will provide financing for the construction of seven out of 12 segments of the 4th Pan-European transport corridor, Bruynseels said. The BCR official estimated Romanian economy will grow by around 2 per cent in 2011 and by 3.5-4 per cent in 2012.
BCR reported a second-quarter consolidated net profit of 82 million lei (EUR19.7 M), up by 8 per cent as compared to the previous quarter, but only a third of the result posted in the year-earlier period.
