IMF not rushing BCR sale

The new deadline agreed upon by the Romanian authorities and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for concluding the privatisation of the largest Romanian bank, Banca Comerciala Romana (Romanian Commercial Bank – BCR) with a strategic investor is 2006.
The IMF feels this should be enough time for the unfavourable international banking market conditions to improve, so that BCR could find a buyer.
The privatisation, however, must begin in the first half this year, when about 25 percent in BCR should be sold to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The IMF representatives say the two institutions becoming BCR shareholders will support the restructuring process the bank needs in order to be ready for privatisation.
“EBRD and IFC are not strategic investors, they are two banks acting as catalysts for attracting such investors,” Finance minister Mihai Tanasescu says.
He thinks the negotiation of the contracts with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation, which has recently begun in Bucharest, will be over by the end of July.
The two institutions are to commence due-diligence operations at BCR. EBRD and IFC will also make certain suggestions to consolidate the bank’s financial position.
Success of the negotiations is actually up to devising a restructuring plan for BCR, which both parties could agree on.
IFC has already allocated 75 million dollars for buying into BCR, which would allow it to buy more than 10 percent in the Romanian bank.
The sale of the 25 percent interest to EBRD and IFC would result in more than 51 percent in BCR being held by private shareholders.