Bank of Cyprus sold its entire 10 percent share package in Romanian lender Banca Transilvania in three deals on the Bucharest Stock Exchange on Friday, April 18. Bank of Cyprus sold all of its 220 million shares in the Romanian lender, and cashed in EUR 82 million.

This deal places the bank's value at some EUR 825 million, while its stock market capitalization is of EUR 888 million.

UPDATE: One of the buyers was investment fund SIF Moldova, with 3.5 percent, adding to its existing 5 percent in the bank.

The name of the buyer was not announced when the deal was made public via the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Bank of Cyprus became a shareholder in the Romanian lender back in 2009.

Banca Transilvania posted a net profit of around EUR 83.3 million in 2013, when the last three months of the year represented its best quarter for lending.

Its gross profit of EUR 98.4 million was up by a third compared to 2012. In 2012, the bank’s net profit was of EUR 72 million.

The bank, which upped its loans by 9 percent and its deposits by 11 percent, above the budgeted level, granted over 25,000 new loans in the last quarter of 2013., worth some EUR 706 million.

Banca Transilvania’s assets were of EUR 7.1 billion at the end of 2013, while its active customers amounted to 1.76 million. The bank’s focus areas were retail and small and medium enterprise clients, and specialized segments, such as agriculture, and healthcare.

The bank's shareholders include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development EBRD, with 15 percent of its shares, SIF Moldova and SIF Oltenia, each with around 5 percent.

editor@romania-insider.com