ECONOMY

Strong interest in National’s Turkish unit

Strong interest in National’s Turkish unit

Finansbank appears to be a particularly coveted asset, boosting the prospects of a very profitable sale by its parent group, National Bank of Greece, ahead of the Greek lender’s recapitalization.

Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported on Monday that French bank Societe Generale is cooperating with Turkey’s Fibabanka to submit a bid for Finansbank. Earlier, the Financial Times had reported that Qatar National Bank and Garanti Bank, Turkey’s second-largest private lender, are also interested.

Analysts say that the accounting value of Finansbank stands at around 3 billion euros, and the buyout offers are expected to be close to this amount.

In the first half of the year, Finansbank reported a rise in profits to 94 million euros, just as National posted losses of 159 million euros.

National Bank sources told Kathimerini that the size of the stake that the Greek lender will sell in Finansbank will depend on the amount that NBG will require for its recapitalization, as will emerge from the stress tests. Therefore, the smaller National’s capital needs turn out to be, the smaller the stake in Finansbank that will go on sale, as the Greek lender would prefer to retain a strong presence in the Turkish lender.

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