Reuters has reported that Italian Banca Intesa is interested in bidding for Ukrainian Ukrsotsbank. OTP Bank has already submitted an offer for Ukrsotsbank, which had assets of EUR 1.56bn and shareholders equity of EUR 161m (as of 30 September 2005) but net income in 1H05 of just $5.1m. There is ongoing speculation that other potential bidders, expressing interest in the 4th largest Ukrainian bank by assets (with 5.2% market share), include Commerzbank, Societe Generale and Erste Bank. The deadline for submitting bids is mid-February and the transaction is speculated to be completed by the end of March. Given the limited profitability of the bank, there may be some opportunity to acquire it at a reasonable P/B multiple but the rush by western European banks to increase exposure to the region could push the price up.