OTP Balks on TAS Bank.

After causing a buzz in the investment community by announcing plans to buy a controlling stake in another large Ukrainian bank, and starting due diligence proceedings on TAS Commercebank, Hungary’s OTP bank has reportedly put work on the purchase of TAS Commercebank on hold. (OTP recently bought Raiffeisen’s subsidiary bank in Ukraine, which Raiffeisen didn’t need after its purchase of Bank Aval).  According to an unsourced report in today’s Kommersant, TAS’s owner Sergey Tyhypko wanted $700m, which was too high for OTP. Alexander Viktorov: According to the rumor mill, OTP is looking at other Ukrainian banks.