Erste takes over Diners Club Adriatic

Erste Bank of Vienna has signed a contract on the purchase of 100% of Croatia’s Diners Club Adriatic d.d. shares.

The final transaction is expected to be finalised in the first quarter of 2007 due to the fact that the purchasing is an issue for the regulatory authorities in Austria and Croatia to ratify.

Diners Club Adriatic (DCS) is one of the leading Croatian credit card companies. The present purchase price will be based on profit in 2006, but will not amount to more than 153 million euros, the Bankamagazin news portal writes.

Second largest credit card distributor

DCA is the second largest credit card distributor on the Croatian market with a market share of 28.9 percent and around 450,000 issued credit cards. The total profit, mostly from credit card charges, amounted to 50 million euros in 2005, while their net worth was 8.65 million euros.

This acquisition will have an important synergy effect and will result in a significant increase in profit from Erste Bank Group fees in Central and Eastern Europe.