Speaking at an analyst conference, Treichl said BCR is currently Romania’s largest lender, but it’s not the most efficient one.
Erste Bank owns 69.4% in BCR. The Austrian group said it has reached an agreement in principle to buy another 24.12% stake in BCR from four of the five minority holders SIFs in exchange of EUR435 million in cash and stock.
Earlier today, BCR group said it switched to a loss of 90.5 million lei (around EUR21 million) in the third quarter, versus a net profit of RON6 million in the same period of 2010.
The group’s nine-month profit dropped sevenfold on the year to RON67.6 million, hit by rising provisions and higher costs.
Early October, Erste announced extraordinary write-downs totaling EUR692.8 million in Romania, which reduced goodwill to EUR1.1 billion. (EUR1=RON4.315)