It is only a matter of days before a consultant is selected to assist in the sale of the stakes of insurance company Asiban, which are currently held by BCR, BRD-SocGen and Banca Transilvania, with the three banks expected to arrange a tender this week. Market sources say the shortlist, which has been put together by the Asiban shareholders, includes the international investment banks Merrill Lynch and Rotschild. Whichever bank wins the tender will be in charge of finding investors interested in buying the 75% stake in the insurance company put up for sale by the three shareholders.

BCR, BRD-SocGen and Banca Transilvania each hold 25% in the company, with the fourth shareholder being CEC (The Romanian Savings Bank). The latter has a pre-emption right, however, Radu Ghetea, chairman of the lender, says it has not yet been decided whether the bank will buy more shares, sell, or just retain its stake.

Market sources believe that it could take until the end of the year for Asiban's sale to be completed. After the consultant is chosen, a company evaluation and an internal audit will be take place. According to estimates made by Asiban's general manager, Dumitru Ceraceanu, the company is worth over 100 million euros. In fact, over the last three years, high-value transactions completed on the insurance market registered an average price of 0.8 euros per 1 euro of the turnover, with the latter calculated by the gross value of underwritten premiums. In 2006, Asiban's general and life insurance operations generated almost 124 million euros (437 million RON) in gross underwritten premiums, putting the company's market value at around 100 million euros. BCR, BRD-SocGen and Banca Transilvania could each therefore collect 25 million euros from this transaction.

For many years, Asiban had been one of the most profitable companies on the insurance market, but