Romania
Low bids might prompt the Romanian government to delay its privatization plans for the country’s last state-owned savings bank, CEC. The planned sale of either a 50% plus one share, or a 75% stake, is under threat after preliminary bids were for less than half of the €650 million that the government hoped to raise. Seven banks submitted bids last October, and the deadline was extended from November until January in order not to clash with the sale of larger state-owned BCR – Erste Bank agreed to pay €3.75 billion for a 62% stake in December.