Azernews.Az

Consultants for the privatization of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, the country’s leading bank, have completed the first stage of preparations for privatizing the state share in the IBA’s capital stock, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

The consortium of consultancies consists of PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit Azerbaijan (PwC) and Salans UK law firm.

The consortium, in close cooperation with the working group established under the bank, has completed the analysis of pertinent financial and legal issues, analysis of the country's banking legislation and preparation of proposals on optimizing the existing legislation for IBA’s privatization. The experts have also analyzed Azerbaijan’s financial and banking sectors and developed recommendations on long-term development of the bank and increasing its competitiveness, the statement said.

During the stage of preparations, both the consortium and the government will decide on basic provisions and principles of the privatization strategy, the range of the bank’s value, the optimal price of the future deal, the stake being privatized and the terms of its sale.

Within the second stage, necessary documentation for IBA’s privatization will be prepared and the list of potential buyers determined. The final stage will be registration of the sale of IBA stock. According to the schedule, work under the project, including sealing of the privatization deal, will be completed by mid-2012.

IBA was established in 1992 as a successor of the Azerbaijan branch of the Foreign Economy Bank. IBA has a well-developed branch network and provides banking services to large corporate clients and, to a lesser extent, to individuals.

The Azerbaijani government owns 50.2 percent of IBA's stock, while the other 49.8 percent of the shares are held by private stakeholders and legal entities.