BAWAG’s losses narrow in 2009, cuts toxic assets
VIENNA, March 18 (Reuters) – BAWAG P.S.K., Austria’s fifth
biggest bank, narrowed its losses sharply in 2009, it reported
on Thursday, as it reversed writedowns on toxic assets that
lost it over 500 million euros in 2008.
The bank, owned by U.S. private equity group Cerberus
[CBS.UL], posted a net loss of 22.2 million euros ($30.3
million) and boosted its Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio to 10
percent with the help of state and shareholder capital
injections, it said.
RZB value = zero? Markets think so
Emerging Europe’s No.2 lender Raiffeisen International and its unlisted parent, cooperative bank RZB, on Feb. 22 preempted a Reuters scoop and disclosed that they were considering to put their businesses together. This would add to Raiffeisen’s business, currently exclusively in the former Communist part of Europe, a franchise serving large Austrian and international companies and institutional investors. Analysts and investors have been concerned because they can’t easily put a value on RZB’s business ex-Raiffeisen, and many fear they may be put at a disadvantage in the merger. The 21 percent drop in Raiffeisen’s shares makes it possible to quantify this concern. Raiffeisen International CEO Stepic and RZB CEO Rothensteiner address a news conference in Vienna. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader
The planned deal – which Raiffeisen and RZB say is still only one of several options – would be implemented under a procedure known as statutory merger in German and Austrian share law. Here’s how it works: Auditors – one for each company and a third, appointed by a court – review the two companies business plans for the next 10 years and from that derive a valuation for each of the two companies. Based on that valuation, they calculate an exchange ratio for the swap of both companies’ current shareholdings into the shareholdings in the new, merged company.
Raiffeisen sheds 12% on possible merger with parent
VIENNA, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Raiffeisen International
<RIBH.VI>, emerging Europe’s second-biggest bank, shed almost 12
percent of its value on Tuesday as investors feared a possible
merger with parent RZB [RZB.UL] could slow growth at the lender.
Late Monday the Vienna-based bank said it might merge with
unlisted cooperative bank and 70 percent shareholder RZB, in a
deal that would give the combined group a share listing and help
the parent raise much needed capital on the market.
EU finance ministers agreed IMF role in Greek aid: source
VIENNA (Reuters) – Euro area finance ministers agreed their countries would take “determined and coordinated action” to help Greece, drawing on IMF expertise but not the Fund’s money, an EU government source said on Thursday.
Greece will have to commit to additional fiscal measures for the aid to kick in, said the source, who requested anonymity because the ministers had agreed to keep confidential the result of the conference call they held on Wednesday.
EU finmins agreed IMF role in Greek aid -source
VIENNA, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Euro area finance ministers
agreed their countries would take “determined and coordinated
action” to help Greece, drawing on IMF expertise but not the
Fund’s money, an EU government source said on Thursday.
Greece will have to commit to additional fiscal measures for
the aid to kick in, said the source, who requested anonymity
because the ministers had agreed to keep confidential the result
of the conference call they held on Wednesday.
ECB says can’t bail out Greece, sees contagion risk
VIENNA/HELSINKI, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Greece must get its own
house in order itself as the European Central Bank cannot bail
it out, two ECB policymakers reiterated on Tuesday.
“Greece, being a euro country, is under the regime of euro
regulations, and so the main policy approach is of course that
they have to solve the problems themselves,” ECB Governing
Council member Ewald Nowotny said in an interview.
Noted: Raiffeisen capital hike could boost EPS
HSBC analyst Johannes Thormann suggests an elegant way for Raiffeisen International, the Vienna-based No.2 bank in emerging Europe, to sell new shares this year. While the bank is relatively well capitalised for the time being, with core Tier 1 at 8.7 percent at the end of Q3, this was only thanks to a 1.25 billion euro injection from its unlisted 70-percent parent RZB, which passed on some of the Austrian government capital it received itself last year.
It was a shareholder-friendly idea of RZB to inject 600 million euros of this capital by way of non-voting “participation rights” which didn’t dilute shareholders at a time when the share price was battered because of lingering concerns eastern Europe was facing a financial meltdown. (The remaining 650 million euros are a straight Tier 1 hybrid.) But the flip side was that those participation rights carry a steep 10 percent coupon that goes out after the net profit line, i.e. is after taxes.
Austria seeks Saturday talks on Hypo rescue
VIENNA/MUNICH, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Austria’s Finance
Minister invited his counterpart from the German state of
Bavaria for Saturday talks on how to rescue Hypo Group Alpe
Adria, Austria’s sixth-biggest bank and a major lender in the
former Yugoslavia.
The invitation followed talks that continued into early
Saturday between ministry officials, the head of Hypo’s main
shareholder, Bavarian state bank BayernLB [BAYLB.UL], and
representatives of other shareholders.
Greek fate is euro zone responsibility, says Merkel
VIENNA/BONN, Germany, Dec 10 (Reuters) – The euro zone has a
collective duty to secure the fate of debt-stricken member
Greece, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, even as other
European policymakers said Athens should cure its own ills.
Greece has vowed to do whatever it takes to check its vast
deficit, responding to a beating on markets unnerved by Fitch
Ratings cutting Greek debt to BBB+ with a negative outlook,
citing fiscal deterioration in the euro zone’s weakest member.
Telekom Austria slumps after warns on 2010 earnings
VIENNA, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Telekom Austria’s <TELA.VI> earnings will decline next year as customers abandon its domestic fixed-line service and price pressure from both regulators and competitors stays high, the group said.
Shares in the partly state-owned group declined by 11 percent on the news, to 10.18 euros by 1604 GMT, on track for their biggest drop in more than a year and topping the list of losers in the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index.
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