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| Project sponsor and major shareholders of project company |
| BCR is controlled (i.e. 69.88% shareholding) by the Government via the Authority for Privatization and Management of State Ownership (APAPS); the remaining 30.12% is controlled by five financial investment companies (SIFs). The SIF’s (i.e., SIF Oltenia, SIF Banat Crisana, SIF Moldova, SIF Transilvania, SIF Muntenia) were created as tools for assisting the mass privatization process following the breakdown of the communist regime in the early 1990s. |
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| Total project cost and proposed IFC investment |
| The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and IFC will together purchase 25% plus two shares of BCR for a total amount of $222 million. IFC is planning to purchase 12.5% plus one share of the share capital and voting rights of BCR for $111 million. |
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| Location of project and description of site |
| BCR is headquartered in Bucharest and has over 280 branches throughout Romania. The bank also has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Moldova, and representative offices in Moscow and New York. Also, BCR has equity investments in banks in Italy and Egypt. |
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| Description of company and purpose of project |
| Banca Comerciala Romana, S.A. (BCR or the bank) was incorporated in 1990 and licensed by the National Bank of Romania to conduct all commercial banking activities. BCR is the largest bank in Romania, with a market share of more than one third of total banking assets in the country as of year-end 2002. According to International Accounting Standards (IAS), BCR’s total assets as of December 31, 2002 were approximately $4.7 billion equivalent, total equity was approximately $846 million equivalent, and net profits were approximately $106 million equivalent. The project consists of a pre-privatization equity investment of up to $111 million for a 12.5% shareholding in the bank. The pre-privatization equity investment fits within a wider framework to support the Government of Romania (GoR or the Government) to promote banking sector reform. |
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| Environmental and social issues - Category FI-1 |
This is a Financial Intermediary (FI) Type 1 project according to IFC's environmental and social review procedure. BCR will be required to establish environmental policies and procedures and require their corporate and SME borrowers to comply with local and national environmental and occupational health & safety requirements.
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| To contact the project company, please write to: |
Corneliu Cojocaru, Director
Press Office
Banca Comerciala Romana
Bd Regina Elizabeta 5
70348, Sector 3
Bucharest, Romania
Phone: +40 21 312 0056
Fax: +40 21 312 0056
Email: cornel.cojocaru@bcr.ro
Web: www.bcr.ro |