Erste Group
Erste Group Bank AG ( Erste Group ), with 16.5 million customers one of the largest banking groups in Central and Eastern Europe. It belongs to the group of savings banks in Austria and is represented in the Austrian Savings Banks Association.
History
Erste Group was founded in 1819 in Leopoldstadt, a suburb of Vienna, the first Austrian savings bank. After the fall of communism, the company expanded greatly in the Central and Eastern European region and had acquired by 2008 10 banks. In 1997, the IPO, the company is listed today on the stock exchanges of Vienna, Prague and Bucharest and is weighted in the Indixes CEETX, ATX and PX. On 9 August 2008, the then First Bank of the Austrian Sparkassen AG was divided into the newly formed holding company and the subsidiary Erste Group, Erste Bank Oesterreich; their foreign holdings were taken over by the new holding company. Erste Group now holds up under all Group companies.
In a ranking by Forbes Magazine the world's largest public companies in the year 2013, Erste Group Bank is ranked 672 and thus occupies the third place in the Austrian companies.
Expansion in Central and Eastern Europe since 1997
After the reorganization and the IPO was still uniform Erste Bank began with the expansion in Central and Eastern Europe. As the first bank, the Hungarian Mezőbank was taken over in 1997. After a further capital expansion has continued. In 2000, the majority of the Czech Česká spořitelna and Slovak Slovenská were taken sporiteľna.
Also in 2000, three were Croatian small banks Erste & Steiermärkische Bank dd fused after it had been taken over by Erste Bank and the Styrian Bank und Sparkassen AG from 1997.
2003 Riječka banka was merged with "First & Styrian bank". The proportion of the first in this subsidiary since then amounted to 55.1 %.
The acquisition of 61.88 % of the Banca Română SA Comercială (BCR ), the largest Romanian bank with 2.8 million customers and 12,000 employees in 2005 to 3.751 billion euros, the largest ever foreign direct investment of the Austrian economic history dar. The number of employees at the end of 2008 amounted to 9985th
In July 2005, Erste Bank has signed a purchase agreement for the acquisition of 83.28 % of the shares of Novosadska banka ad, Novi Sad, of the Republic of Serbia. With the purchase of the bank, Erste Bank enters the Serbian market, which has a significant growth potential.
2007 acquired the first 100 per cent of Bank Prestige in Ukraine, her first engagement in this country. In April 2013, the Erste Group sells its Ukraine subsidiary for around 63 million euros to the owners of Ukrainian Fidobank. The sale is to focus on customer business in the eastern part of the European Union in accordance with the strategy of Erste Group. Ukraine has removed politically in recent years by the EU and on and therefore no longer matches orientation of the Bank Group.
In 2008, the foreign exposure of Erste Bank were transferred to the newly established Erste Group.
Erste Group Bank AG paid the first domestic bank in August 2013, the 2009 issued participation capital in the amount of EUR 1.76 billion, which was drawn with EUR 1.22 billion of the Republic of Austria and EUR 540 million from private investors in full back. From 2009 to 2012, the Republic of Austria received by Erste Group annual dividend payments of EUR 98 million and EUR 43 million from private investors Including the aliquot dividend for 2013, is expected to be paid in June 2014, following a decision of the General Meeting, the Republic of Austria thus EUR 448 million and private investors have received EUR 198 million. In 2013, the Erste Group posted a profit of 61 million euros. The result, ( 3,307 million EUR ) based on only a slight decline in operating income, is explained primarily by the high tax burden in Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. There were also goodwill amortization and the exit from the Ukraine. In total, these special effects accounted for EUR 770 million. The cash position of EUR 1.76 million, which carried out in spring 2013 capital increase of EUR 660.6 million and the repayment in full of the participation capital reflects. The bank is so comfortable on all Basel III requirements. The balance sheet total at 31 December 2013 is EUR 199 900 000 000 The loan -to-deposit ratio was 31 December 2013 at 104.3 % (end of 2012: 107.2 %).
IPO, capital, acquisitions
The IPO in 1997 in Vienna by the then unified the First Bank ( qv) performed as further capital until 2006 and a stock split. It was partly the largest ever in the financial center of Vienna carried out transactions of this nature with the capital made the acquisitions were financed. On 18 July 2013, the Erste Group includes a capital increase of EUR 660.6 million from successful. The First Group 's shares are listed on the stock exchanges of Vienna, Prague and Bucharest.
Shareholders
As of January 17, 2014, the shareholder structure is as follows:
- 20.2% FIRST Foundation directly, indirectly
- 9.1% Criteria Caixa Corp, S. A.
- 4.1% Austria Versicherungsverein
- 53.0 % Institutional Investors
- 8.0 % Retail investors
- 1.5% of employees