The partially state-owned bank group Österreichische Volksbanken AG (ÖVAG) has one problem less, after the lossmaking Romanian unit found a buyer. The deal has been already signed, with Romanian bank Banca Transilvania becoming owner of the Romanian in H1 2015, according to FriedlNews.com.he Austrian bank will have to make concessions and grant discounts in order to exit from the Romanian unit, but no details have been disclosed, nor has the price of the deal been made public.
Quoting anonymous sources Romanian agency Mediafax reported a price of EUR 600 million (USD 743.4 million) for Volksbank Romania, but the figure was not confirmed.
Following the deal signed on Wednesday Romania gets its second-biggest bank, claiming a market share of 12.7 percent, with 685 branch banks and 2.1 million customers. The market leader is Erste Group subsidiary Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), while current second-in-line is Banca Romana pentru Dezvoltare (BRD), a unit of Societe Generale. The sale of the Romanian unit of OVAG is required under the European Commission’s permit for state aid issued in 2012.
Listed Banca Transilvania is currently the biggest financial institution which is majority-owned by private capital and third market player in Romania. The biggest shareholder of the bank is the EBRD.
