OTP Bank: CEC winner to be announced on December 22

According to Reuters, citing Sebastian Vladescu, Romanian Finance Minister, the government will announce the winner (between National Bank of Greece and OTP Bank) of CEC Bank privatisation process on December 22.

Our view: This is in line with recent comments concerning announcement date of between 20 and 22 December. Market rumours suggest National Bank of Greece to bid at least EUR 500m is in line with earlier speculation that the final price is likely come in between EUR 500m and EUR 700m, which equals to historic 2005 P/B of 4.5x - 6.3x. Given the level of restructuring required and the bank's limited profitability, we would expect a price towards the low end of this range. We do not expect the news to have any impact on the stock price.