Ion Tiriac has decided to sell his stake of 45.059 percent of Unicredit Tiriac Bank stock to the majority shareholder, Unicredit, as part of the exit option agreed on by both parties, Mediafax writes, quoting sources in Italian and international media.
This would be the biggest transaction in the post-crisis banking industry in Romania.
Ion Tiriac owns Unicredit Tiriac Bank stock through companies Redrum International Investments BV and Vesanio Trading Limited.
Unicredit Tiriac Bank main shareholders
50.55 percent Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG
24.83 percent Redrum International Investments B.V.
20.22 percent Vesanio Trading Limited
According to Italian publication Il Messaggero, quoted by Reuters, the Italian group reached an agreement with the Romanian businessman to sign the contract for the deal in a week and to complete the transaction by Christmas. Ion Tiriac would receive EUR 700 million for his stake, paid partially in cash.
Contacted by the media, Tiriac refused to give a comment. Andrea Morawski, from Unicredit Media relations, said: “We have nothing to comment on the matter given that we usually do not comment on rumors that surface in the press or on the market”.
The consolidated net profit of UniCredit Tiriac Bank and UniCredit Consumer Financing rose 18 percent to EUR 16 million in the first quarter against the same period of last year on the back of lower provisioning, while demand for new loans remained weak.
The bank’s assets amounted to EUR 5.8 billion and the capital adequacy ratio stood at 14.1 percent in May 2014.
UniCredit Tiriac Bank operated through a network of 188 branches by the end of March, and the number of employees in the banking and consumer financing businesses reached 3,116.