"Even looking back retrospectively, I don't regret the high price that we paid to take over the BCR. Of course, we didn't anticipate the big crisis of 2008-2009 at the time of the transaction," says Andreas Treichl, CEO of Erste Group, which controls the BCR.
In October 2006, the Austrians were transferring into an escrow account opened with Citibank an impressive 3.75 billion euros, accounting for payment for 61.8% in the biggest Romanian bank. It was by far the most expensive acquisition made by Erste in its expansion campaign in the region, it surpassed offers such as that of giant Deutsche Bank, but Treichl's ambition to win the tender has long been discussed by analysts and investors, and had subsequent reverberations, especially when the international financial crisis broke out and Erste needed the help of the Austrian state. In 2000 the Austrians had paid just over half a billion euros for Ceska Sporitelna, the biggest Czech bank and still the biggest subsidiary outside Austria.
In the four years of controlling the BCR, Erste's share of the bank's profits has not reached even a billion euros. However, by centralising several operations in Vienna, the Austrians have rounded off their earnings.
"Even looking back retrospectively, I don't regret the high price that we paid to take over the BCR. Of course, we didn't anticipate the big crisis of 2008-2009 at the time of the transaction," says Andreas Treichl, CEO of Erste Group, which controls the BCR.
In October 2006, the Austrians were transferring into an escrow account opened with Citibank an impressive 3.75 billion euros, accounting for payment for 61.8% in the biggest Romanian bank. It was by far the most expensive acquisition made by Erste in its expansion campaign in the region, it surpassed offers such as that of giant Deutsche Bank, but Treichl's ambition to win the tender h
