Leading Greek bank NBG offered US$514.9 million for Vojvodjanska banka, Greek financial daily Imerisia reported, quoting unofficial sources. As recalled, NBG is one of the three foreign banks that were admitted in the final stage in the tender procedure for Vojvodjanska. The other two are Austrian BA CA and Polish PKO BP. We recall that earlier reports in the Serbian media speculated that the Greek lender offered impressive US$ 643.4 million in its preliminary bid.

The Serbian bank had capital of CSD6.68 billion (US$100.5 million) at the end of 2005. Its total assets amounted to US$636.9 million as of March 31, which translates into 5% market share. Considering the very strong interest in its privatization and the good growth potential of the lender, we believe that the winner in the tender is likely to pay a price of at least 4.5-5.0 times the equity of Vojvodjanska ($450 million to $500 million). It should be noted that the Greek lender was rumored as the strongest favorite for the acquisition of Vojvodjanska.