ZAGREB, April 12 (Hina) - The management of the State Agency for Bank Rehabilitation and Insurance of Savings Deposits (DAB) has decided to sell 85 percent of Rijecka Banka shares to the Vienna-based Erste Bank. Erste Bank was the one
of three bidders which offered the highest bid - 55 million euros for the shares and 100 million euros for recapitalisation. The other two bidders were Bank Austria and Belgium's KBC bank.
ZAGREB, April 12 (Hina) - The management of the State Agency for
Bank Rehabilitation and Insurance of Savings Deposits (DAB) has
decided to sell 85 percent of Rijecka Banka shares to the Vienna-
based Erste Bank. Erste Bank was the one of three bidders which
offered the highest bid - 55 million euros for the shares and 100
million euros for recapitalisation. The other two bidders were Bank
Austria and Belgium's KBC bank. #L#
DAB director Marinko Filipovic said at a press conference on Friday
that the shares were sold at a price of around 12.8 euro per share,
which is similar to the price offered by Bayerische Landesbank two
years ago, when it bought Rijecka Banka.
The contract on the purchase should be signed in seven to ten days,
after which inspections into Rijecka Banka's business activities
will be carried out.
The minimum which the buyer had to offer for the shares was 25
million euros and the remaining amount (up to 55 million euros) will
depend on the loss the bank suffered in a recent embezzlement
scandal. If the loss exceeds the 111 million euros established so
far, the difference will be deducted from the 55 million euros.
By buying Rijecka Banka, Erste Bank, which now owns three Croatian
banks, has become the third bank group on the Croatian market,
Filipovic said. The Austrian bank has announced strong support for
economy and the opening of offices along the coast. It has also
secured 20 million euros of favourable loans for businessmen, he
said.
Filipovic reminded about the situation in Rijecka Banka before and
after the embezzlement scandal in mid-March, saying the total
savings in late February amounted to 5.9 billion kuna and a month
later they were reduced by more than two billion kuna. Insured
savings in late February amounted to 3.88 billion kuna, while in
late March they amounted to 2.5 billion kuna. Losses established so
far total 827 million kuna, which means that 77 percent of the
bank's stock capital has disappeared, Filipovic said.
The DAB director, who is a temporary chairman of the Rijecka Banka
Supervisory Board, said the bank's liquidity was maintained with a
loan by the Croatian National Bank (HNB), which was replaced by a
syndicated loan.
Filipovic believes that the bank's management is the most
responsible for the scandal and that it will be called to account.
The bank's former owner, Bayerische Landesbank, stands no chance of
winning in a possible dispute with the Croatian state, Filipovic
said, adding that Bayerische Landesbank was Rijecka Banka's owner
for two years and that it had inspected the bank's business
activities before buying it.
(hina) rml