Banca Transilvania, the largest bank in Romania by assets, announced that it would raise its equity capital by 84 million Euro, to 1.1 billion Euro, Romania Insider reads.

The lender will issue 400.8 million new shares with a nominal value of RON 1 each, which will be distributed for free, on August 5, to shareholders registered as of August 2.

“The operations for registering the share capital increase at the Central Depository are currently in progress,” a report sent to the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) shows.

The bank’s Extraordinary General Meeting approved the issue of free shares on April 24, 2019. The money comes from last year’s net profit, part of which the shareholders decided to capitalize.

Banca Transilvania has a market capitalization of RON 12.2 bln (EUR 2.57 bln). The Cluj-Napoca-based group has become the leader (by assets) of the country’s banking market after taking over Bancpost from its Greek owner (EFG). BCR and BRD follow it in the local banks’ ranking.