Ilie Carabulea sells 10% of Carpatica

Ilie Carabulea, the main shareholder of Romanian bank Banca Carpatica, says he is negotiating the sale of a 10 percent minority share package to an internationally renowned financial institution for the purpose of consolidating the bank.

The estimated value of the transaction could exceed the stock exchange quotation, the equivalent of €23 million in lei, and could double in value, according to banking market analysts. When contacted by Business Standard, Ilie Carabulea did not make any comment on the value of the transaction.

“The financial institution interested in our bank wants to buy a 10 percent share package. Negotiations are ongoing, and we will reveal all the details as soon as these are concluded in a few days,” Ilie Carabulea told Business Standard exclusively.

Carabulea recently said he does not intend to sell the bank. “At present we are negotiating the terms of sale and the interested party is requesting quite a number of advantages,” Carabulea said.

Sources on the market claim that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which currently owns a 15 percent share package of the Romanian bank Banca Transilvania, could be one of the interested financial institutions.

Banca Carpatica’s stock exchange capitalization is worth some €230 million. Its assets reached RON 1.72 billion (€525.9 million) in the first quarter of 2007, up by 5.4 percent, while net income is 30 times lower, down to RON 147,145 (€43,800) from Q1 2006 RON 4.19 million, due to investment in the development of the network.

,,Negotiations are ongoing, and we will reveal all the details as soon as these are concluded in a few days’’ Ilie Carabulea  main shareholder, banca carpatica