The Bank of Portugal has received one improved bid for Novo Banco but will evaluate in coming weeks all three bids that have been made, the bank said on Friday. Friday was the deadline for improved offers by three bidders who presented binding offers in June for Novo Banco, the successor to Banco Espirito Santo after a state rescue last year.
Sources familiar with the bidding process have said China's Fosun International Ltd and privately owned Chinese insurer Anbang have made offers, as has US fund Apollo Global Management LLC. The Bank of Portugal did not say which of the three bidders had presented an improved offer, but it said in a statement that the "binding offers received on June 30 remain completely valid," indicating it was still considering all the bids.
The bank said it was still in discussions with the three bidders. Portuguese authorities hope to sell Novo Banco to recover funds injected last August in a 4.9 billion euro rescue operation, when BES, the country's second-largest lender, crumbled under the debts of its founding Espirito Santo family. Novo Banco is Portugal's third-largest bank in terms of assets, totalling around 65 billion euros. The toxic exposure to the Espirito Santos' debt was left with the "bad bank" BES. Although most of the BES rescue package came from public funds, the capital came via the Bank Resolution Fund, the joint responsibility of Portugal's banks, meaning any losses on the sale would be incurred by banks.
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