Sberbank is lining up a bid for the 20.85 percent stake in Turkey's Garanti Bank being sold by General Electric, a source close to the deal said Monday.
The stake in Garanti, the most actively traded stock on the Istanbul bourse, is worth almost $3.7 billion at current market prices. U.S. conglomerate General Electric is selling the stake as part of its strategy to scale back its finance arm.
"GE is delighted that Sberbank is going to be one of five or six bidders for its stake in Garanti," the source said on condition of anonymity. He said bids were due by March 12.
"GE is delighted that, in this environment, there is so much interest in the stake."
State-controlled Sberbank aims to expand its presence overseas and in 2008 unveiled a five-year strategy to generate between 5 percent and 7 percent of its earnings abroad.
Garanti has boomed in recent years to become one of the Turkish banking sector's greatest successes. Its shares rose 143 percent in 2009, outperforming both the index of banking stocks, which rose 116 percent, and the Istanbul index as a whole, as it reported strong profit growth.
Dogus Group owns a 30.5 percent stake in Garanti and analysts have speculated that it could increase its holding.
Turkish media have also reported Spain's Banco Santander, Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo and a Gulf-based investment fund as among the potential bidders for the stake.
A market source in Turkey said in February that HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered were also potential bidders.
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