Romanian lender Banca Transilvania, headquartered in Cluj – Napoca, recently took over the Casa Alba villa in the city from businessman Josef Goschy, according to Mediafax newswire.

The sale price was EUR 900,000, and the bank intends to change the use of the villa, presently a hotel, but has not revealed any details about its plans.

Casa Alba has nine rooms, a 60-seat restaurant, a bar and a terrace, all on a 2,700 sqm land plot.

Goschy, who has put up the Sport hotel in Cluj for sale too, for EUR 6 million, owns, via Unita Turism, 24 hotels, totaling over 7,000 rooms across Romania.

Banca Transilvania reported a stagnating profit in the first half of 2013, of some EUR 41 million, while its assets were up 2 percent, to some EUR 6.8 billion.

Banca Transilvania’s largest shareholders are the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with 14.6 percent of the shares, and Bank of Cyprus, with 9.9 percent. The bank’s shares are floating on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, where it has a capitalization of some EUR 620 million.

editor@romania-insider.com