Austrians try to sell Anglo-Romanian Bank again

Erste Group, the majority shareholder in BCR, is making another attempt to sell Anglo-Romanian Bank, the London-registered subsidiary of the biggest Roma­nian bank, with the outcome of undergoing negotiations with an investor being expected in two months at the latest.

The Austrians’ attempts at finding a buyer have taken up almost two years in the context where the international economic downturn has curbed the number of potential investors.

As the sale project was abandoned at some point, the Austrians embarked upon restructuring the Anglo-Romanian Bank, deciding to close its Frankfurt subsidiary through which BCR’s international pay­ments were largely processed. The liquidation of German operations cost over 3.4m euros, contributing to the 3.5m-euro net loss the bank ended 2009 with, after 11.6m-euro profit in 2008.

The Frankfurt subsidiary ceased its operations in late September 2009, after the Austrians decided BCR would become a client of the Vienna group’s payment platform. In the past year an a half, investors interested in taking over the lending institution have included Dinu Patriciu, together with banks or funds outside the EU, as well as a Baltic bank.

Last year, the bank was harmed by exposure to Ukraine and Kazakhstan, where several institutional clients default­ed.