The Bucharest Court of Appeal approved on Friday the merger between Banca Comerciala Carpatica and Patria Bank, two smaller-sized local banks.

The merger could be implemented on May 1 when Banca Carpatica, which was set up in 1999 by local businessman Ilie Carabulea, will cease to exists. The bank resulted from the merger will be called Patria Bank and will have 111 units in 73 cities in Romania.

The lender will have over 240,000 clients and some RON 3.82 billion (EUR 840 million) worth of assets under management. It will focus on the retail segment as well as on financing small and medium enterprises, according to an official announcement.

Patria Bank will be listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, where Banca Carpatica has been listed since its launch.

Patria Bank, which is controlled by the investment fund Emerging Europe Accession Fund (EEAF), managed by Axxess Capital, bought a 64% stake in Carpatica in early-2016. At that time, Carpatica was desperately looking for a buyer because it needed new capital and its main shareholder at that time, Ilie Carabulea, was having legal problems.

After the takeover, Patria Bank announced that the two lenders would merge and the operation was approved by Romania’s National Bank (BNR) in November 2016.

editor@romania-insider.com