Almost two years after the government and Banco di Sicilia appointed Rothschild as their financial consultant to sell their shares, the government has decided that for the time being it will not follow through on its intentions to sell its shares in Bank of Valletta (BOV).
The government put a stop to the process of selling its BOV shares because the offers it received did not satisfy its criteria for privatization.
The two parties had almost 40% of the BOV shares between them, with the government’s shares costing just over Lm 100 million. The total cost of the shares at present prices cost over Lm 170 million.
In August the government had said that the Banco di Sicilia had agreed to extend Rothschild’s deadline to find a potential buyer.
The government’s intentions for the BOV shares was announced towards the end of a business session of the Malta Stock Exchange. It is uncertain whether Banco di Sicilia will follow through on its own plans to sell its 14% of shares in BOV.
In a statement, the government said that Rothschild completed their initial approach to the markets, and whereas interest was shown, this interest was not of a nature that fell within the strategic parameters of privatization that Government was looking for.
© Copyright 2006 - MaltaMedia Online Network
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