National Bank of Greece, Banca Romaneasca’s owner, put it up for sale early this year, a process handled by Credit Suisse’s investment banking division from London and Athens.
A number of investors showed interest in the acquisition but eventually two made it almost all the way, Banca Transilvania and OTP, two lenders seeking to grow through acquisitions and have no problem repaying the more than EUR300 million lines of credit to NBG Athens.
Banca Romaneasca, which had 6.3 billion lei (EUR1.4 billion) assets at the end of 2016, accounts for a 1.6% of the Romanian market, down from 2.9% in 2008.
OTP set as its target to reach 5% share of the Romanian market from the current 2.2%, which it can do only by buying other lenders or loan portfolios. Gaining market share through organic growth is almost impossible.
Several banks are up for sale in Romania – BancPost, Marfin Bank and Veneto Banca.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)