Komercijalna Banka awaits owner - Selection of privatization adviser in progress

Names of the companies that have met the requirements to apply for the post of the privatization adviser for the sale of Komercijalna Banka will be announced Friday, when the candidates will be shortlisted, Novosti learns. In this way, Komercijalna Banka is taking first steps toward future privatization, which will follow its recapitalization by the state.

The fact that the state has decided to keep a majority stake in Komercijalna Banka, for which EUR 102 million will be paid from the budget, does not mean that the bank will not be sold, but that the state's revenue from the future privatization will be bigger.

According to some earlier announcements, this bank should be sold until the end of 2015, and the whole procedure has started with the selection of the privatization adviser through an ad published in Financial Times.

Since Komercijalna Banka is a strong domestic bank, which last year increased its profit 40% to approximately RSD 3.5 billion, it is not odd that the world's strongest banks are seen as potential future owners. Unofficially, among them is Deutsche Bank.

The state currently holds a 42.6-percent stake in Komercijalna Banka and will keep that position after the acquisition of shares to be issued by the bank on April 4th. The second largest shareholder, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), will also keep its current stake of 25%.

SHAREHOLDERS

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development became a minority shareholder in Komercijalna Banka in 2006, when it signed an agreement with the state to acquire a 25-percent stake in this Serbian bank. The next capital increase was carried out in 2009, when the EBRD, the IFC, Germany's DEG and Svedfond invested EUR 120 million in the bank and the state retained the right to invest in Komercijalna Banka until the end of 2012 to remain a majority shareholder. The agreement stipulates that if the state fails to recapitalize Komercijalna Banka, a portion of the stake of the Republic of Serbia will be added to the stakes of aforementioned financial institutions on 1 January 2013.