The bank’s board decided against submitting a binding bid for the Bulgarian bank, OTP said. The submission deadline for 70% of Bulgaria’s DZI Bank was midnight on Friday.
Greece’s EFG Eurobank Egasias and Belgian’s KBC Group confirmed on Friday they submitted bids for a majority stake in the bank. Greece’s Alpha Bank was also seriously interested in the DZI Bank, according to reports in the local press, but it was unclear whether it had submitted a valid bid. Alpha said in a statement on Friday that it planned several investments in Southeast Europe.
Up for sale are 70% of the bank’s shares, a stake industry insiders priced at €200 million-€300 million.
OTP deputy-CEO László Wolf said in August the bank was interested in buying DZI in order to strengthen its position in Bulgaria. OTP already owns Bulgaria’s biggest retail bank, DSK, which it bought in a privatization deal in 2003 for €311.1 million.
DZI bank has total assets of about €500 million, Wolf said at the time. DSK had total assets of about €2.7 billion on June 30, 2006, OTP’s first-half report shows.