Patriciu takes over UniCredit Securities

Businessman Dinu Patriciu (photo), the main shareholder of the Rompetrol group, has signed an agreement to take over the brokerage company UniCredit Securities, a member of the UniCredit Tiriac Bank, according to sources from the capital market. The value of the transaction stands at around 1.7 million euros, say the quoted sources. The takeover, which was conducted via one of the entities of the Rompetrol group, has not yet been completed, with the documents currently being assessed by the National Securities Commission (CNVM) for approval. The transfer of the ownership will be conducted at a later date. The sale of UniCredit Securities came in the midst of the merger of UniCredit, HVB Tiriac, and Banca Tiriac. As a result, the UniCredit Tiriac Bank group controls two brokerage companies operating on the Bucharest market: CA IB Securities, formerly held by the HVB group, and UniCredit Securities. CA IB has constantly been ranked among the top brokerage companies on the Stock Exchange over the last few months, whilst UniCredit Securities has been at the bottom end of the brokers’ ranking. Six months into the year, CA IB now tops the ranking, with a 10% market share and transactions worth over 600 million euros. In the same period, UniCredit Securities brokered transactions worth 3 million euros and ranks 68th out of 76 companies, with a 0.05% market share. “Following the merger between HVB and UniCredit, the decision was made to sell UniCredit Securities in order to avoid another merger between UniCredit Securities and CA IB Securities (…),” UniCredit Tiriac Bank representatives told ZF.