* Petre Pavel Szel: SIF "Muntenia" is in the process of a divorce with "Erste", but it is a civilized one

* The other SIFs are still negotiating

"Erste Bank" will not buy the 3.7% block of BCR shares for which it signed an agreement with SIF "Muntenia", before the General Shareholder Meeting at BCR which includes the share capital has on the agenda.

"Prior to November 14th (ed. note: the date of the General Shareholder Meeting) we will not conclude any formalities for acquiring even a part of the stake of SIF Muntenia", the bank"s officials said on Friday.

SIF "Muntenia" is the first that reached a final agreement with "Erste Bank" concerning the liquidization of the stake in BCR. The other SIFs are still negotiating meaning that, before November 14th, no exchange can effectively take place.

The presidents of the SIFs are wary of clearly stating whether they will participate in the share capital increase of BCR or not. The representatives of "Erste" are saying that the Austrian bank is ready to subscribe alone to the capital of its branch: "We are waiting for the other SIFs to complete their domestic procedures and we expect to reach the same result as in the case of SIF < Muntenia >. We don"t see any problem with having the other shareholders not participate in the share capital increase of BCR. This situation is stipulated in the notice to attend, which mentions a maximum amount for the share capital increase of BCR. Erste will subscribe on the share capital increase according to the size of its current stake, which is 69.4%".

The shareholders of BCR have been summoned on November 14th, to decide on a new capital injection, after having approved the increase of the bank"s share capital in spring by about 55 million lei, by incorporating the net profit of 2010.

This time, the Executive Board of BCR has proposed the capitali