JC Flowers, the American investment fund that owns First Bank Romania, seems to have eventually found a buyer, according to sources familiar with the deal quoted by Economica.net.

The US fund took over the Romanian subsidiary of Greek group Piraeus in 2018 and absorbed Bank Leumi in 2020 to hold a market share of some 1.3%.

JC Flowers planned to pursue massive investment and development of the Piraeus branch - rebranded First Bank - for several years, prior to the exit. But the Covid pandemic complicated the exit plan but didn't put it on ice, though.

JC Flowers has not provided an official answer to Economica.net's questions on this topic.

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andrei@romania-insider.com