Sale of BCR kicks off with 11 suitors

The sale of Romania”s largest bank, Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), widely regarded as the deal of the year, has attracted eleven letters of interest, of which two come as something of a surprise: those from Austria”s Erste Bank and Dutch bank ABN Amro.

The following candidates have signed up as contenders in the race for BCR: KBC (Belgium), Dexia (France-Belgium), Deutsche Bank (Germany), Intesa (Italy), BNP Paribas (France), Fortis (Netherlands-Belgium), Erste Bank (Austria), Millennium BCP (Portugal), ABN Amro (Netherlands), National Bank of Greece (Greece) and a US consortium comprising Citigroup Venture Capital and the investment fund Texas Pacific.

“I”m sure the privatisation process will continue regardless of what happens on the political scene. I am very pleased we have attracted the major financial groups to the sale of BCR. We have some big names on the list and I believe the privatisation will be a success,” said Gabriel Zbarcea, chairman of the BCR privatisation committee, yesterday.

“The surprise to me, after all the talks, is the emergence of Erste Bank – which had previously expressed an interest in CEC – and ABN Amro,” he added.

The shortlist of candidates for the next phase in the BCR privatisation will be published on July 14, with the only question now remaining to be answered being that related to the suitability of the consortium of Citigroup Venture Capital (a member of world”s largest financial group, though not by represented by CitiBank) and Texas Pacific.

The BCR privatisation will see investors choose between buying 50% plus one share or a stake of 61.8825%. Analysts put the deal at around one billion euros. Germany”s Deutsche Bank has submitted a letter of interest for the maximum stake on offer.