Austrian bank BAWAG PSK expects to decide on IPO next week: Reuters

BAWAG PSK, the Austrian bank majority owned by U.S. private equity group Cerberus Capital Management, expects to formally announce next week whether it will go ahead with a share offer, two people familiar with the matter said.

Announcing its intention to float would start a process that would lead to a listing a month later, at the end of October, the people said.

Sources told Reuters in June that the planned listing in Vienna of a 20-30 percent stake could value Austria’s fourth-biggest lender at up to 5 billion euros ($6 billion).

The listing is very likely to go ahead, barring unforeseen circumstances, one person close to the matter said.

“There’s no reason to believe that’s not going to be the case, absent something geopolitical or …some kind of natural disaster,” they said.

A BAWAG spokeswoman declined to comment.

Reuters reported last month that the listing could take place by the autumn.

Cerberus owns 52 percent of BAWAG and GoldenTree Asset Management 40 percent.

Rothschild is advising BAWAG’s owners on the share listing. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have been named the top global coordinators among a number of banks working on the deal.