BUDAPEST, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Hungary's OTP Bank <OTPB.BU> has agreed to buy a majority stake in one of Azerbaijan's five biggest banks, domestic news agency MTI said on Friday, citing a report on an Azeri business website.
The report published on business portal www.abc.az said OTP, Hungary's biggest bank by most measures, had reached a preliminary deal for a 51 to 100 percent stake with shareholders of the Azeri bank, MTI said.
The report did not name the bank or specify its book value.
OTP declined comment on the report.
OTP Chief Financial Official Laszlo Urban said last month that the bank would sell some foreign subsidiaries and might use part of the cash to enter new countries in the east offering higher potential returns.
OTP shares closed up 4.2 percent at 7,098 forints ($44.89) on the Budapest bourse on Friday, outperforming a 2.2 percent rise in the broader market.
(Reporting by Sandor Peto. Editing by John Stonestreet.) ($1=158.12 Hungarian Forint) Keywords: OTP/ tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomsonreuters.com ms1 COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2008. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
The report published on business portal www.abc.az said OTP, Hungary's biggest bank by most measures, had reached a preliminary deal for a 51 to 100 percent stake with shareholders of the Azeri bank, MTI said.
The report did not name the bank or specify its book value.
OTP declined comment on the report.
OTP Chief Financial Official Laszlo Urban said last month that the bank would sell some foreign subsidiaries and might use part of the cash to enter new countries in the east offering higher potential returns.
OTP shares closed up 4.2 percent at 7,098 forints ($44.89) on the Budapest bourse on Friday, outperforming a 2.2 percent rise in the broader market.
(Reporting by Sandor Peto. Editing by John Stonestreet.) ($1=158.12 Hungarian Forint) Keywords: OTP/ tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomsonreuters.com ms1 COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2008. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
© 2008 AFX News
