VIENNA (Reuters) - Hungary's OTP Bank OTPB.BU remains in the market for a small Russian regional bank and expects to spend around $50 million on an acquisition, Chief Financial Officer Laszlo Urban said on Tuesday.
The purchase, which could be announced as early as this year, would be financed from OTP's existing resources, Urban told the Reuters Central European Investment Summit.
He added that with the recent global credit crunch it was not a good time to issue subordinated debt or new shares and any major acquisition which would require raising equity would first be put to shareholders.
Urban said OTP had not received any formal takeover approaches but the bank may consider some sort of partnership with a western European savings-type bank to help finance its rapid lending growth, which will remain faster than any deposit growth.
OTP acquired units in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro in 2006 and has spent most of 2007 integrating the new subsidiaries.
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