ATEbank to expand via acquisitions in the Balkans
ATEbank, Greece’s fifth-largest lender, will expand its network in Southeast Europe through acquisitions and organic growth in Romania over the next three years, its deputy chief executive said. «We are looking to expand into other Balkan and Southeastern European countries through purchases, but we haven’t found anything of interest to buy yet,» ATEbank’s Deputy CEO Panayiotis Varangis told Reuters in an interview. ATEbank, which is 77 percent state-owned, last year bought a majority stake in Romania’s Mindbank, in its first step outside Greece, and has also agreed to buy 24.9 percent of Serbia’s AIK Banka. Varangis said ATEbank will further expand in Romania by opening 40 to 70 new branches by 2009 which will be added to Mindbank’s 12-branch network. The state, which last year sold a 7.2 percent stake in the lender, has said it aims to reduce its holding in ATEbank further by as much as 15 percent. «We have no new information on the stake sale. If and when it happens, it will be good for the bank because it will increase the free float and more institutional investors will become part of our share capital,» Varangis said. The bank, with a current market capitalization of -3.45 billion, expects profits to grow by 25 percent annually during the 2007-2009 period, according to its business plan. It has targeted a 20 percent annual increase in return on equity. «We are on track to deliver the business plan targets that we set for 2007,» Varangis said. The bank is also aiming to lower non-performing loans to about 4 percent of its total loan book by 2009 from 10 percent currently. «We are looking into the possibility of securitizing non-performing loans. The portfolio we may consider securitizing is about -400 million,» he said. ATEbank increased its net profit by 56 percent in the first quarter to -74.6 million with net interest income rising 13 percent to -158 million. The bank, with a 3 percent market share in consumer loans and 7 percent in mortgages, said loans to households rose by 30 percent year-on-year in the first quarter. «In the next three years, we don’t see any significant drop in loan growth. Our lending growth rate is higher than the market’s,» said Varangis.
