Two suitors have been invited to the next stage of the procedure for selling Bulgaria's Bank Victoria, a wholly-owned subsidiary of bankrupt Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank), a notice on Corpbank’s website said on October 21.

Corpbank completed the acquisition of Credit Agricole Bulgaria in June 2014. Days after the deal closed, Corpbank was hit by a bank run, which led to its bankruptcy. The acquired lender was subsequently renamed Bank Victoria.

Eight candidates had submitted expressions of interest for Bank Victoria. The two that will proceed to the next phase are Bulgarian commercial banks Bulgarian-American Credit Bank (BACB) and D Commerce Bank. They were selected after additional consultations with the country’s central bank.

100% of Bank Victoria is being offered for sale in a package with Corpbank’s receivables against it. The latter amounted to BGN87.6mn (€44.8mn) at end-June, Capital Daily reported.

BACB is controlled by Bulgarian banker Tsvetelina Borislavova. At end-June, the lender had total assets of BGN1.03bn and was the 17^th largest (out of 27) in terms of this indicator.

D Commerce Bank is owned by Turkish businessman Fuat Guven. At end-June, the lender had total assets of BGN692.6mn and was the 20^th largest in terms of this indicator.

At end-June, the total assets of Bank Victoria stood at BGN137.3mn, and the equity amounted to BGN41.8mn, according to central bank data. A purchase will provide the buyer with a banking licence, a licence for membership in Visa International, the possibility of entering niche market segments, an experienced team and a conservatively provisioned loan portfolio, Investor.bg reported previously quoting marketing documents. In addition, a reorganisation was completed in 2015, and the lender has operational IT infrastructure.

The next phase of the sale process includes sending an information memorandum and providing access to a virtual data room, Capital Daily said. After that, price offers will be expected, as well as the launch of negotiations with the two suitors.