MKB said the transaction is pending permission by the National Bank of Romania; the purchase price and buyer were not revealed. The deal makes good on a promise from the company made in August to divest the operations. MKB chairman/CEO Pál Simak said at that time that “If we can agree on the details, then the Romanian unit will not be part of the MKB group by the end of the year.”
MKB purchased its first, 55.4% stake in then-Romexterra Bank in October 2006. At that time, Romexterra controlled 0.8% of the Romanian market.
BayernLB earlier made MKB its bridgehead for expansion in the region, but the financial crisis seems to have ruined the opportunity: A financial report for the first half of 2013 showed losses of €108 million for MKB, which was blamed on “the ongoing difficult economic and political environment” in the country…
As part of a €5 billion bailout deal with the German government and the European Commission, Bayern LB must sell its stake in MKB Bank by the end of 2015.
– material by Gergő Rácz was used in this article
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