Romanian investor Ion Tiriac has sold his 45% stake in the lender UniCredit Tiriac Bank to the Italian group UniCredit, the bank’s majority shareholder. This could still be one of the largest transactions in the Romanian banking system after the crisis and would add a few hundred million euros in cash to Tiriac’s fortune.

UniCredit Bank Austria increased its stake in UniCredit Tiriac Bank from 50.6% to 95.6%, the Italian group announced in an official press release. The transaction will be completed before the end of this month. The parties agreed not to disclose the transaction price, nor any details about the deal.

According to information published last year by the Italian press, the Italian group would have paid EUR 700 million for Tiriac’s shares.

UniCredit Tiriac Bank is Romania’s fourth largest bank by assets, according to the most recent data available. The bank had EUR 6.45 billion in assets at the end of 2014 and made a net profit of EUR 22.2 million last year, down by 19% compared to 2013. Its shareholders’ equity was EUR 657 million, at the end of 2014.

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The two big Romanian banks that are listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BRD and Banca Transilvania, are currently trading at P/B ratios of 1.42 and 1.76. Considering these multiples, UniCredit Tiriac Bank would be valued between EUR 930 million and EUR 1.15 billion. Thus, Ion Tiriac may have received EUR 400 million to EUR 520 million for his stake.

Ion Tiriac, a former tennis player and tennis manager for Ilie Nastase, Guillermo Villas, and Boris Becker, founded Banca Ion Tiriac in 1990. This was the first private bank in Romania. Some 5,000 people became shareholders in the new bank via public subscription.

In 2005, Banca Ion Tiriac merged with HVB Bank Romania. HVB Tiriac then merged with Italian group UniCredit’s Romanian subsidiary to form UniCredit Tiriac Bank. In 2013 and 2014, UniCredit Tiriac Bank also took over the corporate and retail businesses from RBS Romania, the local subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland.

UniCredit Tiriac Bank currently has 180 units in Romania and 3,350 employees.

Ion Tiriac, who’s one of Romania’s richest, owns Tiriac Holdings, a conglomerate of automotive, real estate, air transport and energy companies. He also holds minority stakes in Allianz-Tiriac Asigurari, the biggest insurance company in Romania, and Metro Cash&Carry, German group Metro’s local subsidiary.

Ion Tiriac is 76 and has a net worth of USD 1.03 billion, according to Forbes.

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Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com