The Serbian government is inviting bids for its 41.75% stake in Komercijalna Banka.
In addition, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is to sell its 41.5% stake in Komercijalna Banka.
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In total, a stake of up to 83% in Komercijalna Banka is up for grabs.
The Serbia government is calling for letters of interest to be submitted by 21 June.
Komercijalna Banka holds market shares of around 12% of deposits and 10% of loans in Serbia.
By assets, it holds ranks as the third largest bank in Serbia with a market share of 10.9%.
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By GlobalDataItalian-headquartered Intesa and UniCredit rank first and second in Serbia by assets with market shares of 16.1% and 11.7% respectively.
Komercijalna Banka net profit fell by 16% year-on-year to RSD1.67bn ($16m) in the first quarter.
Deposits were flat y-o-y at RSD321bn with loans up less than 1% y-o-y to RSD187bn. Return on assets fell by 40 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 1.7%.
Komercijalna Banka sale: wave of Serbian consolidation
Serbia’s banking sector is in the midst of a wave of much-needed consolidation.
In the past two years alone, Expobank entered the Czech market by acquiring Marfin Bank.
On the other hand, three Greek lenders have exited the Serbian market. In particular, Direktna Banka, based in Kragujevac, acquired Piraeus Bank in 2017. Meantime, Serbia’s AIK Banka snapped up Alpha Bank.
Other notable deals include Hungary’s OTP acquiring 100% of Vojvodjanska banka and NBG Leasing from National Bank of Greece.
The newly enlarged OTP now has a Serbian market share of 5.7%.
