Komercni CEO Radovan Vavra yesterday suggested that there are significant bid differences among the four short-listed bidders. Without mentioning names, he said he considered only two of the bidders as seriously interested, in the sense that failing to acquire KB would leave their strategy incomplete. One of the other two bidders is considering how advantageous the purchase of KB would be, and the last one is rather cool toward KB privatization and restructuring, according to Vavra. The CEO envisages the government eventually negotiating with the two key candidates. The four short-listed bidders are UniCredito, HypoVereinsbank (we believe these could be the two “serious” candidates Vavra referred to), Societe General and Credit Agricole. Vavra’s statements were released after trading closed yesterday. We expect very little or no impact on the stock. Even if it turns out that, indeed, only two of the four bidders are so determined, this should be enough to result in an attractive selling price for the government’s 60% stake.
(Ondřej Daťka)