Erste Bank is to be floated on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) by the end of 2007, according to a representative of
Erste Bank Ionut Stanimir.
Erste Bank is already listed in Austria and Czech Republic. Stanimir has also stated that the size of the share offer is not known yet.
Our view: The possibility of listing
Erste Bank shares, within 3 years, on the BVB had been flagged during the initial purchase announcement, and maintained in November 2006 in front of the employees shares offer.
Erste Bank is currently holding 69.11% of the BCR shares and according to the privatisation agreement has to list the bank shares on the BVB by the end of 2009. It is widely known that
Erste Bank would like to buyout a 30.1% stake held by SIF’s before the offer. We do not expect the news to have any significant impact on the stock trading.