Komercijalna Bank receives no acceptable takeover bids.

Komercijalna Bank receives no acceptable takeover bids. The leading local lender Komercijalna Bank announced that it has not received an acceptable bid for the 52.8% stake in it offered for sale by a group of shareholders. In May, shareholders of the lender, controlling 52.8% of its shares, have concluded an agreement to examine the possibilities for selling their stake to an international bank. Komercijalna Bank hired UK-based Nomura International as an advisor. However, in its yesterday’s announcement, the lender comments that it will continue to operate with the existing shareholder structure. The bank did not comment on the limited international tender announced for the stake, which ended on November 1. Unofficially, the names that have so far appeared in the media as potential buyers of the majority stake in the bank have been the French Societe Generale, the Italian Intesa, the Austrian Raiffesenbank, and the Greek Alpha Bank. After the announcement that the sale has failed, the price of Komercijalna Bank’s shares has dropped 9.9% yesterday. The net profit of the lender has increased by 35.4% y/y to MKD 429.8mn (EUR 7mn) in Jan-Sep. However, we estimate that the performance in Q3 was poor, with the net profit dropping 70.3% y/y to only MKD 39.4mn in that quarter. Last year, the total assets of the lender increased by 10.9% to MKD 36.9bn (EUR 603.8mn) at end-2005. In 2005, the bank posted a net profit of MKD 357.1mn, down 49%. The lender is listed on the Macedonian Stock Exchange and is included in its blue-chip index.