IuteCredit Europe international financial group intends to acquire a stake in the Moldovan Energbank.
The Competition Council has been notified of this economic concentration, which will be examined for compatibility with the competitive environment. The Competition Council invites all interested parties to comment on how this transaction might affect the competitive environment. IuteCredit Europe is an international consumer finance group. The company started its activity in 2008, having created the non-banking credit organization IuteCredit in Moldova. Today branches and representative of IuteCredit Europe offices are open in four more European countries: Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the company's financial statements, in 2020 its turnover grew by 10% - to 56 million euros. The company's EBITDA (profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization) increased by 3.5% to 20.9 million euros, and net income was 5.2 million euros (-37.4% compared to 2019). Last year, the company signed more than 222.4 thousand new loan agreements (+ 65.4% compared to 2019), and the net loan portfolio of IuteCredit Europe amounted to 79 million euros (+ 0.2%). At the same time, at the end of 2020, about 44.4% of the portfolio accounted for Moldova (39.1 million euros, -14.9% compared to the previous year), another 37.9% of loans were provided in Albania, 14.3% - in Macedonia, 3.4% - in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The total number of clients of the IuteCredit group is about 130 thousand. By the end of 2021 the company intends to increase their number to 200 thousand. IuteCredit is the first Estonian company to issue securities on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. To finance its plans, last year the company issued an additional issue of 10 million euros, and in total, IuteCredit's debt obligations of 50 million euros were placed on this exchange. In 2021, the company plans to strengthen its economic position, expand customer self-service capabilities through digital technologies, and also intends to use this potential, including through acquisitions. Energbank was founded in 1997. Today it has 22 branches and 25 agencies throughout the country. According to the most important indicators, Energbank has a market share of 2-3%, and its position in the ratings of banks is between the 6th and 10th positions among 11 commercial banks in the country. At the end of 2020, Energbank's assets increased by 15.3% - up to 2.92 billion lei. The volume of loans issued amounted to 0.77 billion lei (-16.7%), while the share of retail loans was 54%, corporate loans - 46%. The volume of attracted deposits amounted to 2.11 billion lei, the bank's own funds reached 0.53 billion lei. The bank's net profit in 2020 amounted to 44.4 million lei (-6.5% compared to 2019). Energbank's authorized capital is 100 million lei (2,000,000 shares, with a par value of 50 lei). It should be noted that the bank is under the supervision of the National Bank of Moldova. This is due to the disclosure of coordinated activities of some shareholders without the prior written permission of the NBM, as well as other aspects. In previous years, the NBM Executive Committee adopted 5 decisions on the suspension of the rights of 15 shareholders of the bank with a share of 81.04% in the authorized capital, of which 52.56% are shares blocked after the disclosure of coordinated activities without notifying the NBM, and the remaining 28.48% - for other reasons. Of these, 988,561 shares (49.43% of the bank's capital) were canceled and new shares, in the same quantity and of the same class, were issued. Last year, 49.8% of Energbank's shares were put up for sale, while 9.98% of the shares - as a single package at the Stock Exchange, and the rest - as separate shares (the value of shares ranged from 130 lei to 222.8 lei per share). In April 2021, Energbank redeemed 39.79% of its own newly issued shares for 70.75 million lei. As a result, the share of Energbank's treasury shares increased from 9.6% to 49.42%. At the end of 2020, the bank's major shareholders were Dima-Holding (8.62%), Enteh (8.1%), Sfinx-Impex (6.89%), smaller shares were owned by more than 40 individuals and legal entities. // 08.07.2021 - InfoMarket
