Qatar National Bank ups Denizbank offer

ISTANBUL

Denizbank General Manager Hakan Ateş speaks at a meeting. Qatar National Bank has increased its offer for the lender after Dexia found the previous offer too low.

Qatar National Bank has increased its offer for Belgium Dexia Bank’s Turkish subsidiary Denizbank, to somewhere in the range of $8.85 billion, according to daily Hürriyet.

Sources close to Dexia said that the new offer was closer to Dexia’s expectations, given that the first offer was deemed far too low by the Belgian bank in February, forcing the bank to begin negotiating with other potential buyers.

Dexia expects a price close to $4 billion, according to Hürriyet. Although Qatar National Bank’s offer has not been confirmed, Dexia wants an offer 1.5 times its book value, which would equal $8.85 billion.
“Even in Turkey, when you look at the price to book ratios, you see a lot of big banks who are under their book value. When you compare us to other Turkish banks, we are at an advantage. As of yesterday, Denizbank’s market value is 2.4 times its book value,” General Manager Hakan Ateş said at Denizbank’s annual meeting in February.

Meanwhile, Russia’s largest bank Sberbank announced yesterday that it wanted to enter the Turkish market and was again looking at Denizbank, but had not started negotiations, according to Reuters.