How Nomura missed the post in Bulgaria

Type of deal: attempted purchase
Acquirer: Nomura International
Target: Bulgaria Post Bank

For 10 days at the end of June Nomura International was the most important bank in Bulgaria. Not perhaps the most impressive claim in world banking, but in the context of Nomura's burgeoning eastern European business it was another important milestone. In the past 18 months the bank had made a string of acquisitions in the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania. Bulgaria was its next target.

In February, Nomura's bid for the government's majority stake in Bulgaria Post Bank (BPB) - one of the most attractive banking franchises in the country - was preferred by the Bank Consolidation Company (BCC) over three rival offers. After nearly four months of negotiation, Nomura was awaiting the formality of the next BCC board meeting, scheduled for July 1, when it expected its purchase of BPB to be confirmed.

The other major privatization due...