Austrian Private Bank Denies Acquisition Interest

Rachel Walsh

12 December 2008

Kathrein, the private unit of Austrian cooperative bank Raiffeisen Zentralbank, does not wish to acquire the recently bailed-out Constantia Privatbank, despite national reports to the contrary.

Vienna-based business daily Wirtschaftsblatt is the original source of the story, according to a Kathrein spokesman.

“The report in Wirtschaftsblatt is absolutely unfounded. Neither RZB nor Kathrein are interested in taking over Constantia Privatbank. The paper never contacted us before making this claim,” the spokesman told WealthBriefing.

Constantia declined to comment.

“In the wake of a liquidity shortage and growing legal risks, both of and in Constantia, the five largest Austrian banks bailed the bank out in a concerted action with the Austrian National Bank, the financial services authority and the ministry of finance.

"RZB was one of the five banks who bailed-out Constantia, but we do not intend to increase our share in the bank, which is 25 per cent,” the spokesman added.

Apart from the national authorities, bank and RZB, the October bail-out involved Unicredit Austria, Erste Bank, Austrian Volksbanken and BAWAG.

The newspaper also reported some unnamed German banks might be interested in Constantia.

In April this year, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse both showed interest in acquiring the Constantia, according to BusinessWeek.

Constantia Privatbank focuses on real estate investments and manages real estate companies, IMMOFINANZ AG and IMMOEAST AG.