BELGRADE (Serbia), November 27 (SeeNews) – One of the mid-sized Serbian lenders is most likely to bid for the majority stake in Cacanska Banka [BEL:CCNB] that has been earmarked for sale, a Belgrade-based analyst said on Wednesday.
On Monday, Serbia's Deposit Insurance Agency invited investors to file expressions of interest for the acquisition of no less than 76.74% of the ordinary share capital of Cacanska Banka.
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The share capital of Cacanska Banka that is offered for sale consists of the ordinary shares owned by the Serbian government, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Beogradska Banka, which is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings and is currently under the control of the Deposit Insurance Agency.
The government owns a 28.48% stake in Cacanska Banka while the EBRD, the IFC and Beogradska Banka control 24.99%, 19.99% and 3.27%, respectively, data from the Central Depository and Clearing House showed.
The deadline for filing expressions of interest is December 24.
Cacanska Banka is a small, regionally focused bank, which is operating in a region that is industrially and economically relatively better developed and hence has a better business outlook compared to other regional peers, the head of research at Novi Sad-based Erste Bank, Mladen Dodig, told SeeNews over the phone.
Cacak is a town in western Serbia.
The analyst does not see Cacanska Banka – which recorded a pre-tax profit of 19.1 million dinars ($228,000/167,000 euro) through September, as highly likely to be targeted for acquisition by some of the bigger players on the Serbian market in view of its middling total assets of 33.7 billion dinars.
Ultimately, the deal will depend on the price that the government, the EBRD and the IFC, as its biggest shareholders, would be seeking.
Perhaps this could be equal to the book value of Cacanska’s shares, although the most liquid banks on the Belgrade Stock Exchange are trading way below their book value at the moment, Dodig added.
(1 euro=114.0941 Serbian dinars)