Until recently, the name of Nomura, Japan's largest investment house, did not mean much to the general public in Bulgaria. Recently, however, the Bulgarian media have been eager to find out more about Nomura as its European executives were due in town, intending to acquire one of the the country's best banks.
Bulgarians were surprised to learn of the size of the global company. "British samurai win the battle for Post Bank", read the headline of Banker, a Bulgarian weekly. This interest has been aroused by the recent decision of Bulgaria's Bank Consolidation Company (BCC), the holding organization for state-owned banks, to select London-based Nomura International, Nomura's wholly owned European subsidiary, as the preferred bidder for the purchase of a majority stake in the Bulgarian Post Bank (BPB).
BCC's choice caught by surprise many Bulgarian analysts who expected one of the other foreign bidders - either the National Bank of Greece, or US insurance company AIG - to win. Eurobank, a local private bank, was the fourth bidder.
Representatives of Nomura International were due to arrive in Sofia this month to start the negotiations for the purchase of 78.2% in BPB.