The First Price for BCR

The offers for the takeover of the Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR), which the privatization commission waited until yesterday at 5 p.m., are to be opened today at the same hour, in the presence of all the investors, according to the notifications sent to the participants.

Seven of the nine banks on the list of the investors interested in the privatization of the Romanian Commercial Bank have submitted offers in the set time. They are Intesa Bank, Deutsche Bank AG, Erste Bank AG, the National Bank of Greece, MIllenium BCP from Portugal, Dexia and BNP Paribas. The Privatization Commission will announce in the next two weeks the best two offers, which will qualify for the submission of the final improved engagements.

The two finalists that will be elected after this leg will forward improved financial offers, higher valued than the first. The highest bidder will be the winner as well. The Keefe, Bruyette and Woods (KBW) investment bank evaluated BCR at 5.5 billion euros and offers 3.4 billion euros for the stock package for sale. Another analysis, made by Goldman Sachs, evaluates BCR between 3.8 and 5.8 billion euros.

PRICESTaking into consideration these estimations, the expectations are that the bids will be around them. The solidity of the banking system, the political stability and the favorable economical conjuncture are factors that also maximize the price. Two years ago, BCR valued only 1 billion euros, taking into consideration that, at that time, 25% of the stocks valued 222 million US dollars. This was the sum paid by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the investment division in the private sector of the World Bank, International Finance Corporation. BCR obtained in the first semester a flat income of 443 million lei (121 million euros), for a total of the assets of 26.3 billion lei (7.18 billion euros). BCR doesn’t mean only the BCR bank. It also holds stocks at other companies in the financial-banking field.