Greece's Eurobank in talks with Banca Transilvania to sell Romanian business (updated)

Banca Transilvania

15/09/2017 10:32

* Eurobank talking about full or partial Romanian sale 
    * Deal would end foreign sales as part of restructuring 
    * Greek bank plans to stay in Bulgaria, Cyprus 
 
 (Adds Eurobank official comment, background, details) 
    By George Georgiopoulos 
    Sept 15 (Reuters) - Eurobank  EURBr.AT  is in talks with 
Banca Transilvania  ROTLV.BX  to sell its subsidiaries in 
Romania as part of a restructuring plan agreed by Greece's third 
largest lender with European Union authorities. 
    The sale would close a decade-long chapter of ambitions by 
Eurobank and other Greek lenders to spread their wings abroad 
after the country's debt crisis forced them to retreat. 
    Eurobank, which has operations in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia 
and Cyprus, needs to shrink its non-Greek assets to 8.7 billion 
euros next year from about 11.2 billion currently, based on 
commitments agreed with European competition authorities. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1FV3IE 
    The bank said the potential sale will include Romanian units 
Bancpost, ERB Retail Services IFN and ERB Leasing IFN. 
    "The details as regards the negotiations will be published 
after finalizing necessary steps and obtaining relevant 
approvals. Finalisation of the negotiations is expected at the 
end of October," Eurobank said. 
    HSBC and Mediobanca are Eurobank's advisers on the sale. 
    Fully-owned Bancpost has total assets of about 3.1 billion 
euros and a network of 148 branches, employing 2,255 people. 
    "We are in talks with Banca Transilvania on a full or 
partial sale," a Eurobank official told Reuters, declining to be 
named. 
    Eurobank, 2.4 percent owned by Greece's bank rescue fund 
HFSF, concluded the sale of its Ukrainian unit Universal Bank 
last year, in line with a restructuring plan agreed with the 
European Commission. 
    "The sale will certainly conclude our commitments to the 
EU's DG Competition in the context of our restructuring plan," 
the official said. 
    Based on Eurobank's strategic plan, the lender intends to 
maintain its operations in other foreign markets such as 
Bulgaria and Cyprus. 
    "Our goal is to further strengthen and expand our presence 
there," the official said. 
    "We have the room to do so given that our commitment to EU 
competition authorities was to reduce our foreign exposure below 
a certain level. The Romanian sale will bring us below that 
level." 
    Greek banks have been slimming down by divesting assets and 
foreign subsidiaries to focus on banking at home, with proceeds 
boosting capital ratios and liquidity. 
    Peer National Bank (NBG)  NBGr.AT  last month agreed to sell 
its wholly-owned Serbian operations - Vojvodjanska Banka, NBG 
Leasing and a portfolio of Serbian-risk corporate loans - to OTP 
Serbia, a subsidiary of Hungary's OTP Bank  OTPB.BU . 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1KQ4RQ 
    In July NBG also agreed to sale its Romanian unit Banca 
Romeneasca to OTP Bank.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1KC28O 
 
 (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Keith Weir) 
 ((george.georgiopoulos@thomsonreuters.com;)) 
 
Keywords: EUROBANK ROMANIA/SALE