Trainose sole bidder in Rosco tender
Greece has received one bid for its railway maintenance company Rosco, the country’s privatization agency TAIPED said yesterday. Greek railway service operator Trainose, which was taken over by Italy’s Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane last year, submitted the only binding offer. Greece is selling Rosco under its bailout-mandated privatization scheme, aiming at total privatization receipts of 2 billion euros this year. It has earmarked 5 million euros from the Rosco sale in this year’s budget plan. executive told Reuters on the sidelines of a business forum. Eurobank, the only Greek bank operating in Serbia, is the European Union candidate country’s seventh-largest bank with a 4.5 percent share of the market. “Our aim is to be among the five top banks, and opportunities for organic growth are limited in Serbia,” Slavica Pavlovic told Reuters. “I do not exclude an acquisition if an opportunity arises.” Three of Greece’s four lenders operating in Serbia – Alpha, National and Piraeus – have sold their branches due to the debt crisis. Some 30 banks, the majority of which are branches of European lenders, operate in Serbia, but analysts say that is too many for a nation of 7 million. “The consolidation of the banking sector began a couple of years ago and that trend will continue. It is clear that only big players can achieve adequate profitability.” Eurobank last year reported a 10 percent increase in lending and a profit before tax of 20 million euros,