|
EBRD sells stake in Hungarian bank K&H
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has sold its 18.19 per cent equity holding in Kereskedelmi és Hitelbank Rt. (K&H). The stake will be jointly purchased by Belgium’s KBC Bank, which will increase its stake from 23.13 per cent to 31.84 per cent. ES Asset Management Limited, a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Portuguese Banco Espiritu Santo (BES), will purchase the remaining 9.48 per cent. Other shareholders of K&H include Irish Life with 23.13 per cent and the Government of Hungary, which holds 28.75 per cent.
David Hexter, Deputy Vice President of the EBRD, said: "The EBRD’s initial aim had been to support the privatisation of K&H by helping to attract a strategic investor. It then focused on the promotion of sound corporate governance. After a difficult start, good progress has been made in this area in the last few months. As the strategic investor, KBC, with its dominant stake, can now take K&H forward, substantially contributing to its long-term business development."
In May 1997, the EBRD subscribed to a US$ 30 million (EUR 23.4 million) seven-year convertible subordinated bond issued by K&H. The bond was designed to strengthen K&H’s capital base and balance sheet, thereby making it more attractive to a strategic investor and facilitating its privatisation. The EBRD converted the bond into equity in November 1997, following the successful privatisation of the bank in August 1997 and the entrance of a strategic investor, in the form of a consortium of KBC and Irish Life.
|
