According to local media, the bids were placed by NLB Group, AIK Bank and Raiffeisen Bank International.

Serbian Ministry of Finance published an announcement stating that Serbia has received three binding bids in its tender for privatization of Komercijalna Banka within the set deadline. According to local media, the bids were placed by NLB Group, AIK Bank and Raiffeisen Bank International.

In the following days, the Ministry of Finance will analyze and evaluate the binding bids and will rank them. Subsequently, the qualified bidders will be notified of the ranking, and the best-ranked bidder will be invited to negotiate on the purchase of 83.23% of the ordinary shares of Komercijalna held by the Serbian government.

As a reminder, in November the Republic of Serbia acquired an additional 34% stake in Komercijalna Banka from EBRD and IFC. The mentioned acquisition was concluded at RSD 4,350 per share (EBRD) and RSD 4,508 per share (IFC). To put things into a perspective, the mentioned transaction translates to a P/B 1 and a P/E of 8.2 (for RSD 4,350) and 8.5 (RSD 4,508). Following the mentioned transactions, the Republic of Serbia owns 83.2% of the bank, enabling the privatization of the Bank under the ongoing privatization process. By acquiring the mentioned shares, the state has fulfilled its obligation (put option) as part of the current sale of the bank, which was defined in 2006.

As a reminder, the transaction follows the acquisition by the Republic of Serbia of 6.89% of ordinary shares from Swedfund and DEG which was completed in June 2019.

From the State’s point of view (under the assumption of the privatization going through), it is very possible that the they will record a loss on the mentioned sale, as it seems unlikely that any of the acquirers will offer a full book for the bank. To put things into a perspective, Komercijalna Banka’s shares are currently traded at a P/B of 0.69.