Morgan Stanley To Buy Bad Baltic Loans?

According to the Swedish news paper Dagens Nyheter, a joint bid for Latvia‘s Parex Bank by Morgan Stanley, Nordea and the British financier Peter Hambro. The U.S. investment bank would take over the so-called bad loans and seized real estate, the news paper writes.

“We are considering all possible takeover possibilities.”

Rodney Alfven

Dagens Nyheter wrote last week that there has been a joint bid made for Parex by Nordea, US investment bank Morgan Stanley and financier Peter Hambro. According to the paper, Nordea is interested in taking over the bank’s retail network and hopes it can help it to catch up with Swedbank and SEB in the Baltic region.

Hambro that owns, among others, a mining company in Russia, is interested in the asset management business of Parex while Morgan Stanley would take over the so-called bad loans and seized real estate, the Swedish news paper wrote.

However, Nordea banking group will not confirm the speculation that it will buy the retail network of Latvia’s Parex Bank.

Rodney Alfven, head of investor relations of Nordea, says in comment only that the claims made by Dagens Nyheter last week were inaccurate interpretation of his words, the Estonian news paper Äripäev reports.

“What I told Dagens Nyheter was a general comment. We are considering all possible takeover possibilities. For instance last year we took over two banks in Denmark. I told the paper that we must analyze how we could manage the risks, assess the price and whether it fits our business model,” Alfven told Äripäev yesterday without specifying the possible acquisition of Parex in further detail.

At present 76.6% of Parex belongs to the Latvian state and 19.7% belongs to EBRD.

Nils Melngailis, CEO of Parex, has told the press that several companies were interested in buying the bank. He said that it was clear which banks operating in the region could be interested in acquiring Parex.

The largest Scandinavian banks are the ones that control the Baltic banking business; SEB, Swedbank, Nordea and DnB NOR.

Dagens Nyheter wrote that there has been a joint bid made for Parex by Nordea, US investment bank Morgan Stanley and financier Peter Hambro.

According to the paper, Nordea is interested in taking over the bank’s retail network and hopes it can help it to catch up with Swedbank and SEB.

Hambro that owns, among otherds, a mining company in Russia, is interested in the asset management business of Parex while Morgan Stanley would take over the so-called bad loans and seized real estate.

Latvian PM Valdis Dombrovskis told Dagens Nyheter that the Latvian government was interested in selling Parex if a reasonable offer is made.

Latvia nationalized Parex in November 2008 and paid 2 lats for 51% of the bank, 1 lat to Valeri Kargin and 1 lat to Viktor Krassovistki who earlier owned 85% of the bank.

EBRD invested 1.14 billion Latvian kroons in exchange of 25% of the bank.

Source: balticbusinessnews.com.

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