“The sale of Finasta is moving ahead, several buyers are involved in talks, we are waiting for any of them to get permission from the Bank of Lithuania to acquire the company,” he said in an interview with the Verslo Žinios business daily. “Hopefully, we will be able to close the deal early next year.”
The sale of shares in Snoras Media, the owner of Lietuvos Rytas’ shares, was being planned already, he said. “However, we don’t yet have an investment bank, which will help sell these shares. The sale of shares in Snoras Media is likely to be the next stage.”
Cooper would soon ask Snoras’ creditors committee to approve the sale of Finasta and Snoro Lizingas (Snoras Leasing).
More than 200 bids from interested parties, of whom around 60 signed confidentiality arrangements and got access to the information about the assets on sale, were received after the announcement about the sale of those companies, Cooper said in his report to Snoras’ creditors committee, which was published on Thursday.
“The sale of Finasta bank and Snoro Lizingas is almost complete...,” the document says.
To complete the transactions, Finasta’s investor needs to be approved by the Bank of Lithuania. The deal involving Snoro Lizingas will probably require clearance from the Competition Council. Specific requirements established by the investor and Snoras will have to be met in both cases. Moreover, the deals will need approval from the creditors’ committee, the report reads.
According to the rumors circulating in the market and the media, an international consortium established in Lithuania and controlled by Belgium’s businessmen could be the buyer of Finasta group and the leasing company Snoro Lizingas. The consortium reportedly includes a UK company led by former top-level executives of BNP Paribas, AXA, and UBS.
UK’s merchant bank Omada Capital, which represented a consortium of three foreign buyers, was earlier rumored as the winner of the tender on the sale of Finasta and Snoro Lizingas. Before that, Estonia’s financial assets management and investment banking company Redgate Capital was mentioned as potential winner.
Analysts earlier projected that the Finasta Group could be sold for 26 million to 30 million litas (EUR 8.7m), and Snoro Lizingas – for 10 to 15 million litas.
Finasta group includes Finasta bank, Finasta brokerage, Finasta Corporate Finance, and Finasta Asset Management, which is active in Lithuania and Latvia, as well as Finasta Direct Investments, which is active in Russia.
Snoras owns a 34 percent stake in Lietuvos Rytas.
