Greek group prepares to sell top 10 bank in Romania

Greek financial group Eurobank is preparing the sale of its operations in Romania. Eurobank controls Bancpost, one of Romania’s top ten banks, which it acquired from the state over 15 years ago. The Greek group has already hired the investment banking division of HSBC London and Mediobanca to handle the process, according to sources within the group quoted by Reuters. Sources in the Romanian financial market have also confirmed the information for local Ziarul Financiar. At the end of 2015, Bancpost was 9th in the local banks’ ranking, with a market share of 3%. The bank had total assets of EUR 2.46 billion, at the end of September 2016. It operates a network of 147 branches in Romania. In the first nine months of last year, Bancpost made a net profit of EUR 6.9 million. Greek banks must reduce their assets in the Balkan area until end-2018, according to deals with international creditors. National Bank of Greece has also hired Credit Suisse to find buyers for its Romanian subsidiary Banca Romaneasca. Piraeus Bank has been up for sale since 2015, with UBS in charge of the process. The Greek parent group rejected an offer from American investment fund JC Flowers, which wanted to take over the Romanian subsidiary in 2015. The local banking system has seen several big transactions in recent years, as some foreign banks decided to exit the market by selling their local subsidiaries or their assets. UniCredit took over the portfolio of RBS Romania, Raiffeisen took over the assets of Citibank Romania, OTP Bank took over Millennium Bank, and Banca Transilvania bought Volksbank. editor@romania-insider.com