September 11 (SeeNews) - Serbia expects to receive binding bids from qualified investors in the tender for the privatisation of Komercijalna Banka [BEL:KMBN] by the middle of November, the finance ministry said.
The tender commission has opened the four non-binding bids placed in the tender on September 10 and found that they are complete, containing the elements stipulated in the documentation for the first phase of the tender, the finance ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
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The ministry will analyse the received bids in the coming days to determine which of the candidates have qualified for the second, binding phase.
The qualified bidders will be ranked in accordance with the criteria set out in the tender documents, and will have the opportunity to undertake additional and comprehensive analysis of the bank's operations.
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 the 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.
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.
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 data by the Serbian central bank.
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