Chances are the winner in the race for CEC (Romanian Savings Bank) will be selected by the end of this month. Greek NBG is the favourite contender, likely to bid more than Hungary's OTP, according to the latest market information.
The privatisation commission may set the new deadline for the filing of final improved bids for September 25 at the latest (from the initial August 31 deadline), as CEC's H1 financial results audit will have been concluded by this Friday, according to sources close to the process, quoted by Mediafax.
"KPMG will forward its audit by next Friday at the latest (September 8). After that, the final draft of the privatisation contract will be sent to the Government and after the document is endorsed by the Cabinet, it will be transmitted to the two contenders," explained the above-quoted sources.
The privatisation contract will most likely be discussed during the government session in the week of September 10-15.
According to the privatisation strategy, the two finalists, the National Bank of Greece and OTP Hungary, will have eight days after they get the last documents to submit their final improved bids.
On the other hand, recent research by Credit Suisse suggests NBG's final bid is likely to surpass OTP's.
"NBG said (...) that it would look to buy back excess capital should it fail to win the auction for CEC. This increases the likelihood that it will bid more than OTP," Hugo Swann of Credit Suisse was quoted as saying by the online financial journal "portfolio.hu".
These considerations come after, a week ago, OTP chairman Sandor Csanyi said he doubted CEC privatisation would be finalised during the following period. Csanyi told "porfolio.hu", "There is still significant difference between the real value of the bank and the price the Romanian government expects to receive."
The Greeks said at the
