Bank of Cyprus scraps plan to boost BT stake

The Bank of Cyprus financial group, with 40bn-euro assets, half the size of the Romanian banking system, has surprisingly abandoned its plan to raise its stake in Banca Transilvania (BT) from 10 to 20%, saying it is reconsidering priorities. "After reconsidering its priorities, Bank of Cyprus group decided to withdraw the request sent to the NBR seeking approval for its plan to raise the stake in BT to 20%," the group's representatives said yesterday. Banking sources state the group's decision was supposedly influenced by certain signals issued by the EBRD, the main shareholder in Banca Transilvania with 14.6% in its stock, which is waiting for an investor of a different size that would buy into the bank on the basis of a bid selection, and not through minority purchases on the stock market. At the same time, the EBRD has not voiced interest in exiting BT shareholder structure at this moment, when the stock price has dropped considerably, the more so as the bank is currently one of the most dynamic players on the market.