Only two bids were submitted during the final sale stage of the sale process involving local lender Banca Romaneasca, part of the National Bank of Greece (NBG) group.

Romanian import-export lender Eximbank and U.S. investment fund JC Flowers submitted bids while a third prospective bidder (Italian bank Intesa) withdrew in the last minute, according to Ziarul Financiar daily quoting unofficial sources.

The deadline for submitting the bids was Friday, December 7, after the seller allowed a two-week postponement.

NBG, the owner of Banca Romaneasca, wanted to have more bidders to choose from, but things became complicated once Intesa gave up bidding. Preliminary bids placed at the beginning of November showed Eximbank as the higher bidder, followed by Intesa and J.C. Flowers. EximBank has hired J.P. Morgan to advise it on the planned acquisition of Banca Romaneasca, Ziarul Financiar reported on November 8.

NBG group has put up for sale its Romanian subsidiary Banca Romaneasca again, after the Romanian central bank didn't authorize the sale to Hungarian group OTP Bank.

The sale of Romanian lender Banca Romaneasca may be signed by the end of this year

editor@romania-insider.com