La Caixa, Spain's largest savings bank, launched operations on the Romanian market yesterday with a branch dedicated to corporate clients, while the bank's officials say they are also considering entering the retail market, via an acquisition. "We came to Romania to start from scratch, to become familiar with the Romanian market, and to join our Spanish clients. We will start with companies, but if there is an opportunity to buy a retail bank, we will do it," said Juan Nin, general manager of "La Caixa" group. Investments in domestic operations amounted to 4 million euros. To begin with, La Caixa will operate a single subsidiary in Bucharest, which will service Spanish companies that have operations in Romania, and in the future will expand its portfolio with Romanian companies interested in markets on the Iberian Peninsula. Juan Nin also said the group had an international expansion strategy through acquisitions, and if a decision was made for the bank to enter the Romanian retail market, it would be conducted via an acquisition. However, the Spanish have yet to decide on a takeover target. The head of La Caixa said a takeover would target a player with an at least 3%-4% share of the retail market, at a price of 500-700 million euros. The Spanish have ruled out an organic development on the retail segment, through the launch of new branches.
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