OTP Bank Plc. (BUSE:OTP) is in talks to raise its offer for Nova Kreditna Banka Maribor d.d. provided the government strip the lender of some underperforming assets, a source at OTP told Reuters. Apollo Investment Corporation (NasdaqGS:AINV) reportedly made a rival offer of €200 million for Nova, according to Slovenian newspapers, and the government aims to select a buyer by the end of February.

"We offered €130 million but we think that the Serbian branches and the leasing unit have a negative value," said a senior source with direct knowledge of the talks. "We told them that if those are taken out, we'd be willing to raise our offer," said the source, who asked not to be identified. "We are actually in talks, even though our offer was clearly lower." A spokesman for OTP declined comment.