Erste Bank’s shares depreciated by more than 60 percent, due to the international financial crisis. The five financial investment companies (SIF), which together own more than 30 percent of BCR, could support postponing BCR’s stock market listing, should the financial crisis continue.
“All banks are worthless considering current market conditions, because nobody wants to buy a bank. Regarding BCR, we are considering postponing the listing scheduled for 2009 if the crisis continues, but the decision has to be made in mutual agreement with Erste and the other SIFs. We will decide on the best option by the end of the first half of 2009,” said Petre Pavel Szel, President of SIF Muntenia.
The Erste group is legally bound to list BCR by October 2009.
According to an analysis made by Erste, BCR’s value amounted to €11.9 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2008, while the latest reports estimated BCR’s value at some €8.3 bln at the end of 2007.
