Four investors interested in taking over Romanian Banca Carpatica

Four investors are interested to become shareholders in Romanian bank Banca Carpatica and to capitalize it. They were granted access to the data room of the bank and in the following period will discuss with the bank’s management on the transaction, according to sources from the banking sector quoted by Mediafax. Among the interested investors there are local banks, but also international investment funds, including a large fund from the US. The bank’s executive president, Johan Gabriels, was mandated by the bank’s shareholders, in April this year, to find a solution to capitalize the bank, either via merger with another local bank or via share capital increase. Banca Carpatica’s founder and main shareholder Ilie Carabulea initially opposed this plan and wanted to change the bank's management. He didn't get to carry out his plan as he had his voting rights in the general shareholders’ meeting of Carpatica revoked by Romania’s National Bank (BNR) in April, in an unprecedented decision. This came after he was arrested earlier this year in a corruption case involving insurance company Carpatica Asig, also controlled by Carabulea. The BNR considered that Carabulea, who holds some 45 percent of the bank’s shares, doesn’t fulfill the good reputation criteria to remain majority shareholder of the bank, as he had been previously convicted in 2012 to one and a half years in prison, no parole, for bribing a public clerk. He served some six months of the sentence. The BNR also asked Banca Carpatica’s management to find other sources of financing for the bank. Banca Carpatica (BVB ticker: BCC), which is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, currently has a market capitalization of EUR 45 million. The bank had assets of EUR 915 million at end-March, 2014, and a market share of more than 1 percent of the total assets of the local banking sector. The bank posted loss for the first quarter of this year as its revenues declined. editor@romania-insider.com