When Banco Comercial Português paid just over $3 million to buy a bankrupt bank from the Turkish government two years ago, it was snapping up probably its biggest bargain ever without knowing it.
"It all started with a coincidence," says Tezcan Yaramanci, chairman of BankEuropa, the brand name under which BCP is operating its acquisition.
Yaramanci, a former chairman of Turkish Airlines and former privatization administration chief, was having dinner in Athens with a Greek friend, Dimitri Kontominas. Kontominas told Yaramanci that he had formed a 50/50 joint venture with BCP, and set up a bank, Novabank.
