China’s Minsheng is out of the race to buy Novo Banco, according to Jornal de Negócios today, as it has not been able to show that it has sufficient funds to make the purchase.
Minsheng was selected by the Bank of Portugal before Christmas but the Bank of Portugal has blundered in its initial choice and now will have to choose between Lone Star and the Apollo-Centerbridge consortium which the Portuguese group Violas wants to join - at the 11th hour.
BPI's largest Portuguese shareholder, the Violas Ferreira family, wants to join the Novo Banco bidding by joining Apollo-Centerbridge, confirmed Tiago Violas Ferreira in an interview with Jornal de Negócios.
The winning bid is scheduled to be announced on Wednesday but the way this process has been run so far, anything is possible including starting the bidding process all over again, for the third time.
In order for Violas to join in, the group needs the authorisation of the Bank of Portugal which should be pleased that someone Portuguese has taken an interest.
According to Tiago Violas Ferreira, the decision to enter the race also is due to the growing dominance of Portuguese banking by foreign companies.
"We are not satisfied with the passing of almost all of the Portuguese private banking system into the hands of foreigners, who defend their own interests," said the businessman.
The US Lone Star fund has given the Bank of Portugal until Wednesday, Jan 4th, to take a decision on its €750 million offer for Novo Banco’s capital (plus a €750 million injection of capital in the bank).
Whether the Bank of Portugal will make an announcement, or not, remains to be seen with governor Carlos Costa (pictured above) bracing himself for the backlash when the multi-billion cost of his ‘solution’ of setting up Novo Banco, at last is crystallised.
