Two Bulgarian-based lenders have remained in the race for Victoria Bank - Bulgarian American Credit Bank (BACB) owned by Tsvetelina Borislavova, and Investbank owned by Petya Slavova. The third candidate, Vabo Internal (a company established solely for the purpose of bidding for Victoria and linked to the Bulgarian gambling mogul Vassil Bozhkov), didn't submit a binding offer. A consortium comprising Kerbler Holding, Imfarr Beteiligungs and Green Finance, which has expressed interest, did not submit a bid either. This is thought to be the last chance to sell the bank after nearly three years of unsuccessful attempts and if this time the sale fails the bank is expected to be closed. Victoria Bank is owned by the trustees of collapsed Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank). It had a small commercial credit portfolio and 33.5 million levs capital as of end-September. The potential buyer would need to negotiate with the Corpbank trustees the repayment the 90 mln levs deposit its former parent bank has opened in 2014.
The buyer should be endorsed by the banking regulator who insists on consolidation. BACB has already announced such an intention and most likely it will be granted approval, since the other bidder, Investbank, was found to have issues with its capital deposits after the stress tests of Bulgarian banks carried out last year.
Two Bulgarian-based lenders have remained in the race for Victoria Bank - Bulgarian American Credit Bank (BACB) owned by Tsvetelina Borislavova, and Investbank owned by Petya Slavova. The third candidate, Vabo Internal (a company established solely for the purpose of bidding for Victoria and linked to the Bulgarian gambling mogul Vassil Bozhkov), didn't submit a binding offer. A consortium comprising Kerbler Holding, Imfarr Beteiligungs and Green Finance, which has expressed interest, did not submit a bid either. This is thought to be the last chance to sell the bank after nearly three years of unsuccessful attempts and if this time the sale fails the bank is expected to be closed. Victoria Bank is owned by the trustees of collapsed Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank). It had a small commercial credit portfolio and 33.5 million levs capital as of end-September. The potential buyer would need to negotiate with the Corpbank trustees the repayment the 90 mln levs deposit its former parent bank has opened in 2014.
The buyer should be endorsed by the banking regulator who insists on consolidation. BACB has already announced such an intention and most likely it will be granted approval, since the other bidder, Investbank, was found to have issues with its capital deposits after the stress tests of Bulgarian banks carried out last year.
