Former banker Doru Lionachescu and his associates have sold 51% of Capital Partners, the largest local investment brokerage firm, for 32 million euros to Greek-based Piraeus Bank. The deal also includes a subsequent option to purchase the rest of the shares in the coming 5 years depending on the financial results. This is the biggest increase in the value of a company in Romania, from zero to 64 million euros in just four years. Doru Lionachescu, 43, was one of the pioneers of Romanian business journalism, and, subsequently, local investment banking. A graduate from the Electronics Faculty, he worked for Tineretul Liber and Capital publications, and then ING Bank and Citibank from 1995.

Capital Partners has been a consultant for some of the biggest transactions on the local market lately - the acquisition of BT Asigurari by French-based Groupama (110 million euros), of real estate broker Eurisko by American-based CB Richard Ellis (22 million euros), and of the eJobs website to American investment fund Tiger (4.2 million euros). Piraeus, the fourth-largest bank in Greece and an ambitious player on the local market over the last few years, intends to develop a strong investment division in Romania, with operations throughout South-Eastern Europe. The bank is part of a group that had assets worth 49 billion euros last year. In Romania, it conducted capital increases worth 220 million euros last year, and had assets worth around 3 billion euros in March 2008.

"Sealing the deal under the current circumstances (i.e. during a decline of international stock exchanges and the strain experienced by financial markets) shows Piraeus's commitment to the Romanian market, and proves that the bank intends to have long-term commitments," said Doru Lionachescu.

Capital Partners has three lines of business - consulting for real estate acquisitions, corporate finan