BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

04/12/2008

Belinvestbank seeks buyers other than Commerzbank

MINSK, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Belinvestbank, one of Belarus's largest banks, said on Thursday it would not conclude a deal to sell a controlling stake to Commerzbank

by the end of this year and was talking with other potential buyers.

Belarus has begun to liberalise its economy -- much of it still in state hands -- through more standardised regulation and selective sales of state assets. Officials have talked of a deal with Commerzbank since April.

'The deal will definitely not happen this year. Everything will become clear in the first half of next year,' Belinvest's chief executive, Alexander Rutkovsky, told journalists.

'The problem is not a lack of desire or an excessive price. The key problem is with our Western partners.'

Commerzbank sealed a takeover of Dresdner Bank worth just over 5 billion euros ($6.3 billion) last week, having turned to the German government for 8.2 billion euros to prop up its flagging finances.

'Commerzbank is not the only one interested in our bank,' Rutkovsky said.

The Belarussian authorities increased Belinvest's nominal capital by 15 percent to about $81.4 million in anticipation of a merger or a takeover deal.

Russia's largest bank Sberbank said on Tuesday it was looking into entering the Belarussian market either through opening a new bank or buying an existing one.

($1=.7925 euros)

(Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky; Writing by Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Source:

http://www.hemscott.com/news/static/tfn/item.do?newsId=71262098743195

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