Bulgarian industrial and financial company Alfa Finance Holding and Austrias Hypo Investmentbank AG have signed a long-term cooperation agreement and will seek a regulatory nod to launch a joint bank, majority-owned by the Austrian company.
Alfa Finance and Hypo Investmentbank will roll out joint financial services in Bulgaria, Macedonia and other South-Eastern European markets.
The new bank will focus exclusively on public sector funding, infrastructure and real estate projects, mergers and acquisitions as well as corporate banking. Hypo Investmentbanks total investment under the contract was not disclosed.
Under the contract, Hypo Investmentbank will acquire through a capital increase a minority stake of some 30 per cent in Alfa Finances subsidiary Financia Group. The Austrian group will acquire a similar portion of Skopje-based Capital Bank, also through a capital hike.
Ivan Nenkov, chief executive of Financia Group, said that the agreement was a good sign at the heat of the global financial turmoil.
The new bank is planned to start off with a capital of 40 million leva in the second quarter of 2009.
Hypo Investmentbank is focused on public finance projects such as infrastructure and real estate as well as corporate banking in Austria, as well as across Europe, with a focus on countries surrounding the Adriatic. The banks total assets stood at 8.7 billion euro at end-2007.
Finansia Group comprises investment intermediary Bulbrokers, consultants Bulbrokers Consulting, Alfa Asset Management, real estate investment trust Alfa Credit, insurance broker Broker Ins and Macedonias Capital Bank.
A key shareholder in Alfa Finance Holding is Ivo Prokopiev, who is also a shareholder in Economedia, the publisher of Dnevnik daily and Kapital weekly and majority shareholder in Sofia Echo Media, publisher of The Sofia Echo.
Earlier in the year, the Bulgarian National Bank refused to license Financia Bank, established by Alfa Finance Holding with a 70 per cent stake and Grammercy Financial Group with 30 per cent. However, the central bank said it would consider another application provided that a major EU-licensed bank is attracted as a main shareholder.
Source: dnevnik.bg
