MKB confirms purchase of Romexterra stake

Romanian business daily Ziarul Financiar reported on Friday that MKB was preparing to sign a contract for at least a 51% stake in Romexterra and had plans to purchase the whole bank later. The paper estimated Romexterra was worth €100 million, or twice its total assets. Small investors hold 77.13% of Romexterra’s shares, with other shareholders including unions and oil company Petrom.
The bank controls just 0.8% of the market, but its profits more than doubled in 2005 to €6.2 million.
MKB said in December, 2005, that Bayerische Landesbank, its majority owner, with 89.61% of shares, had decided to make MKB its bridgehead for regional expansion. MKB named Romania as one of the countries in which aimed to purchase a small or mid-sized bank. MKB already bought a bank in Bulgaria, Unionbank, which has a 1.5% market share, for an undisclosed price. The purchase was closed in May. MKB has also been short-listed in a tender to buy Serbia's Panonska banka, for which OTP Bank Nyrt has also submitted an indicative bid.
MKB's owners have injected into it a combined Ft 49.65 billion (€177 million) in three capital increases so far in 2006. The shareholders said the capital increase was designed to provide capital necessary to execute the bank's strategy.