Bucharest - The commission for the privatisation of Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR) has decided to extend the deadline for lodging the final bids for the takeover of BCR majority stake until October 17, 2005, at the request of the banks which participate in the privatisation, a communiqué of the Authority for the State Assets Resolution (AVAS) informs.
“The bidders have considered that the initial deadline of September 19, 2005 is too short in order to carry out their own due-diligence operations, given the extent of BCR activities and the great volume of information obtained through consultation of the data room,” reads the press release of AVAS.
According to Gabriel Zbarcea, the president of AVAS and of BCR privatisation commission, the request of the investors was accepted because it was “clearly justified” and demonstrates the firm interest of the participants to take over the bank.
“This extension of the deadline does not affect in any way the privatisation of BCR or the commitments assumed by the Government in the relation with the international financial organisations,” Zbarcea added. The same considers that through this additional period, the interested banks will have time to generate solid bids, based on realistic evaluations, which will stimulate competition.
By mid-July, BCR privatisation commission had issued the assent for ten of the 11 institutions which had filed letters of interest and had rejected the participation of the consortium consisting of Texas Pacific and Citigroup Venture Capital International.
After the first stage of selection, remaining in the race were Fortis, Banco Comercial Portugues, The National Bank of Greece, Intesa Bank, Deutsche Bank AG, Erste Bank AG, Dexia, KBC, BNP Paribas, ABN AMRO, and Texas Pacific Group.
Two weeks ago, one of the participants -- the Dutch bank ABN Amro – withdrew the bid without giving details about the reasons which prompted the decision.
The investors can choose to take over either a stake of 50 per cent plus one share of BCR, or a participation of 61.8825 per cent. Before the extension of the deadline for the lodging of the engaging bids, the privatisation commission had estimated that the winner will be designated and the contract will be signed by November 21.
BCR, established in 1990, is the largest bank in Romania in terms of assets and customer base, having ratings of BB-/Stable outlook and B1/NP/D- from S&P and Moody´s respectively. The Bank operates as a commercial bank having a comprehensive nationwide office network, consisting of 315 branches and agencies. BCR employs over 12,000 staff and has approximately 4.6 million clients. EBRD and IFC took 12.5% stake each plus 1 share in November 2003 with a view to support the privatisation of BCR.
Romania Report
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