GEM Financials - National Bank of Greece: Wrong side of Finansbank trade, once again!

GEM Financials - National Bank of Greece: Wrong side of Finansbank trade, once again!

Finansbank is changing hands again - and it's yet another bad deal for the National Bank of Greece. Having bought Finansbank for ~4x book in 2006, they are now selling to QNB for below 1x. What's more, Finansbank is NBG's most profitable business, the absence of which would reduce the group ROE, quite possibly significantly.

Kudos to QNB for acquiring one of the best retail and SME banks in Turkey for a bargain.

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GEM Financials - Turkish banks valuations

GEM Financials - Turkish banks valuations

The market valuation of Turkish banks is currently implying a cost of equity of 12% on average, which we find too low. Turkish risks – inflation, regulatory and political –, as well as global outlook warrant more conservative risk assumptions and hence require higher rate of return. Inflation itself should increase towards 9% mark in 1Q16 to factor in further weakness in currency. Our models factor in an average 14% COE, some 200bp above that implied by the market.

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