LISBON: Apollo Global Management Limited Liability Company (LLC), a private equity firm is considering making a bid for Portuguese lender Novo Banco SA, the bank carved out of Banco Espirito Santo SA (BES).
Apollo agreed to buy insurer Tranquilidade from Novo Banco in September for an undisclosed amount, plans to submit an indication of interest for the whole bank.
Novo Banco was capitalized with 4.9 billion euros ($5.96 billion) via Portugal’s bank resolution fund in August. BES had collapsed under the debt of its founding Espirito Santo family. The state injected 3.9 billion euros ($4.74 billion), the rest being provided by other banks.
Banco BPI SA, Portugal’s second largest listed bank, Spain’s Banco Santander SA and China’s Fosun International Limited are the other interested parties.
The Bank of Portugal has requested potential buyers of Novo Banco to express their interest by Dec. 31 and to make binding offers by the middle of the second quarter of 2015.
