Erste Bank's bid was seen as too weak, and UniCredit pulled out of the bidding process for the Romanian subsidiary of OTP Bank's Romanian subsidiary, according to Profit.ro.

Consequently, only two bidders – Raiffeisen Bank International and Banca Transnilvania – are left on the shortlist for OTP's Romanian subsidiary, estimated at at least EUR 300mn.

"From what I understand, the seller analyzed the bids received, and we were not very aggressive in the first round, so obviously the shortlist includes competitors who bid more," the financial director of the Austrian banking group Erste, Stefan Doerfler said in an intervention to Bloomberg Television.

Recently, UniCredit officials also stated that the Italian bank withdrew from the process for the acquisition of OTP Romania. OTP put the Romanian subsidiary up for sale in May.

The Hungarian group is looking to exit Romania, where it has a relatively small market share, despite multiple attempts to expand through acquisitions.

OTP Bank tried to acquire Banca Romaneasca in 2017, but the transaction was rejected by the National Bank of Romania (BNR).

(Photo courtesy of the company)

iulian@romania-insider.com