OTP indicates interest in majority stake in Romania's CEC with 8 others

OTP Bank has submitted its Letter of Intent to acquire a majority stake in Romania's Casa de Economii si Consemnatiuni (CEC), the bank said in a statement on Wedneday. Romania has recieved Letters of Intent from nine potential bidders, but none of them were named.

The Romanian state called on 10 August a tender for the sale of not less than a 50%-plus-one-share stake but no more than a 75% holding in CEC. The deadline for submitting Letters of Intent was set to 31 August.

The Finance Ministry will set a list of pre-qualified investors based on the Letters of Intent submitted.

OTP declared earlier that it was also considering the possibilities of development via acquisition in Romania beside organic growth.


“The submission of the above Letter of Intent does not create any financial or other kind of obligation on the largest Hungarian bank. OTP Bank is convinced that CEC's privatisation will be a correct and transparent process, in line with international standards applied in the European Union," OTP said in a statement.

As of 31 December, 2004, CEC had IFRS-based total assets of EUR 1.31 billion and shareholders' equity of EUR 149 million. With its market share of 5.6% based on total assets, CEC is Romania's fourth largest bank, which posted a net profit of EUR 17 million in 2004. CEC serves around 2 million clients via 1,407 units.

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