All four short-listed bidders (Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, HypoVereinsbank and UniCredito) confirmed submitting binding bids by the May 11 deadline, confirming earlier market expectations.
The bids will be reviewed by Goldman Sachs, the government’s privatization advisor for KB, who will carry out further negotiations with the bidders. The top two bidders will be allowed to submit new bids in a second round of bidding. The advisor’s recommendation will then be submitted to the state privatization committee, which will submit its recommendation to Cabinet. This process should be completed by the end of June.
(Ondřej Daťka)