Israel Discount Bank (TASE: DSCT) has disclosed in its quarterly financial report that it has halted talks to sell DBLA (Discount Bank of Latin America), its subsidiary in Uruguay, to Colombian Jewish billionaire banker Jaime Gilinski.
Discount Bank and Gilinski had been in advanced talks, while Gilinski was also trying to buy another Uruguayan bank for which he failed to receive regulatory approval. For this reason the talks were halted.
However, Discount Bank has not given up the idea of selling the bank and is looking for another buyer. Spanish bank BBVA had previously been interested in buying DBLA.
DBLA, which is primarily a retail bank, is worth $80 million.
DBLA is held by Israel Discount Bank subsidiary Discount Bank of New York. Discount Bank had previously mulled selling the US bank and in the end opted to sell just the Uruguayan bank.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 22, 2014
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