Turkey’s Garanti BBVA says no decision yet on its Romanian subsidiary

Speaking about media reporting the possible sale of its Romanian subsidiary to Raiffeisen, Turkish financial group Garanti BBVA (Türkiye Garanti Bankası, or Garanti Bank), 86% controlled by Spanish group Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) but also listed at Borsa Istanbul, announced that “to date, there has been no decision to proceed or complete a transaction of this nature.”

“Our bank may consider and evaluate all strategic options regarding its assets and subsidiaries, evaluating accordingly all offers received regarding a potential transaction,” according to the Turkish financial group.

Garanti Turkey stated that a possible transaction will be publicly announced at the time of the decision, in accordance with applicable regulations, according to Profit.ro.

Austrian banking group Raiffeisen Bank International is close to an agreement to acquire the Romanian subsidiary of Garanti BBVA, according to people close to the discussions cited by Bloomberg. According to this source, the Austrian bank would have offered about 1.2 times Garanti's book value, which would imply a price of about EUR 550 million, based on data from last year's balance sheet.

(Photo source: Garanti BBVA)