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Bank of Azerbaijan quits talks with Societe Generale

19 September 2008 10:44 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Elnur Huseynguluyev â€“ APA-Economics. Bank of Azerbaijan may add a foreign investor to its list of shareholders under the 2009-2011 strategic plan, said Muslum Mursalov, Chairman of the Bank.
â€œWe suspended the discussion for a while because of mortgage crisis in the French bank,â€ he added.
According to him, Societe Generale expressed intention to acquire a 51% stake in the bank.
â€œWe explored this bankâ€™s tested practice in Romania. We found out that this bank boosts the targetâ€™ bankâ€™s capital very rapidly after taking a controlling stake and local shareholders canâ€™t keep pace with this. As a result, the target bank is likely to wholly the hands of Societe Generale. That is the reason why we suspended talks,â€ he added.
As at July 1, the bankâ€™s assets stood at AZN 105.109 million, loan portfolio at AZN 89.130 million, deposit portfolio at AZN 45 million, total capital at AZN 45.915 million and authorized capital at AZN 10 million.
Bank of Azerbaijan has been in operation since 1993. The bank has 18 branches, including 5 in regions.