US fund, close to acquiring two banks in Romania

The sale of the two local lenders Banca Comerciala Carpatica and Piraeus Bank to the US investment fund JC Flowers will most probably be concluded this week, on Tuesday or Wednesday, said Nicolae Cinteza, director of the supervisory department within the Romania’s National Bank (BNR). Banca Comerciala Carpatica’s shareholders have agreed to sell it, and now it all comes down to concluding the deal between Piraeus Bank and the investment fund, said Cinteza, cited by local Profit.ro. The shareholders of three or four banks in Romania would be willing to sale their shares if they received good offers, whereas two local banks have announced that they wanted to buy other lenders in the local market, Cinteza added. However, he did not give any names. According to the Profit.ro sources, Garanti Bank Romania is one of the banks interested in acquisitions. It is the subsidiary of the second largest Turkish bank. editor@romania-insider.com