Croatian Arm of Austria's Erste Takes Over U.S. Micro Lender's Majority Stake in Montenegro's Opportunity Bank

ESB and the U.S. nongovernmental organisation for micro financing Opportunity International (OI) have announced their first step towards a potential future cooperation and as part of this cooperation, ESB will acquire 100% of OI’s stake in the Montenegrin bank, ESB said in a statement.

The agreement also envisages financial support for Montenegro's Opportunity Bank, which aims to further strengthen the bank’s position on the market and provide a quality platform for future credit growth and business development, the statement added.

Opportunity Transformation Investments Inc., OI's investment vehicle which holds equity in Opportunity banks around the world, owns 71% of Montenegro's Opportunity Bank, followed by the Balkan Equity Fund with a 12% stake, and Richard Driehaus with 10% with the remaining 7.0% owned by nine shareholders with less than 2.0% each, data from the website of the bank showed on Wednesday (www.opportunitybank.cg.yu).

Opportunity Bank has a share of around 50% on the SME lending market in Montenegro, ESB said.

The bank, headquartered in the capital Podgorica, started operations in April 2002. It is OI's first fully-licensed bank in the region.