September 9 (SeeNews) - Serbia has received four non-binding bids in the tender for the privatisation of Komercijalna Banka [BEL:KMBN], finance minister Sinisa Mali has said.
"The commission will open the bids on Tuesday. Those are non-binding bids and if all interested investors meet the conditions, we will enter the next phase in which they will conduct due diligence and place binding offers," Mali said in a video file posted on the website of news agency Tanjug on Friday.
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The sale of Komercijalna Banka is expected to be completed by the end of 2019, Mali said.
Last week, Serbia reached an agreement to buy 34.58% of the ordinary shares in Komercijalna Banka held by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and IFC Capitalization Fund. Following completion of the transaction, Serbia's government will own 83.23% of the ordinary shares of Komercijalna Banka which it will be able to offer for sale under the ongoing process for privatisation of the bank.
The transaction follows the acquisition by the Serbian government of 6.89% of Komercijalna's ordinary shares from Swedfund and DEG which was completed on June 26.
In August, Serbia extended the deadline for submitting non-bindings bids in the tender for the sale of Komercijalna Banka to September 6, with the received non-binding bids to be opened on September 10.
Blue-chip Komercijalna Banka was the third-largest lender in Serbia in terms of assets at the end of 2018, behind Banca Intesa and UniCredit Bank Srbija, according to Serbian central bank figures.
Komercijalna Banka AD Skopje is among the biggest banks in SEE. You can download our SEE Top 100 ranking
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