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Friday, January 14, 2005

JP Morgan is CEC privatization consultant

Investment Bank JP Morgan will provide consulting for the Romanian Savings Bank (CEC), announced the Finance Ministry yesterday.

The decision was made after the CEC privatization commission completed talks with JP Morgan, which will begin developing the privatization offer for the sale of the local credit institution.

Another two companies entered the consulting race, namely Citigroup Global Markets and Credit Suisse First Boston.

According to the privatization schedule, the consultant is to be appointed this month to develop the CEC privatization strategy by February 2005.

The government plans to approve the strategy by the end of March 2005, while the entire process is to be completed by the end of 2005.

The bank has undergone a restructuring process in recent years, cutting its network of branches - the largest in Romania - by 325 from its peak of 1,749 in 2000 and reducing the work force to 9,270 from 12,000 people four years ago.

Among investors interested in taking over the bank, Austria's Erste Bank and Raiffeisen Bank have already expressed their intent and are expected to make an offer of around 300-400 million euros.The Finance Ministry is currently CEC's sole shareholder and the bank is ranked fourth amongst domestic banks in terms of assets.

Posted by Iulia Rasoiu : 1/14/2005 09:15:00 am