Haitong Bank CEO eyes role in Novo Banco sale

LISBON Jose Maria Ricciardi, the only member of the family behind Portugal's collapsed Banco Espirito Santo (BES) to have kept his top management job, believes he could help find a buyer for the surviving BES unit, Novo Banco.

Ricciardi, who is CEO of Haitong Bank, a unit of one of China's biggest investment banks, sees a role for his investment bank in either advising bidders or finding them and expects better prospects for the sale of Novo Banco in a new, more flexible format after last month's failure.

Haitong Bank was known as BES Investimento (BESI) and until it was bought by Haitong Securities in late 2014 had been part of Novo Banco, and previously of BES.

"Now that we do not belong to Novo Banco and there is no conflict of interests, Haitong Bank can be an adviser in Novo Banco sale or sale of its non-strategic assets ... Or we could bring in some buyer, advising a potential investor in the new sale," Ricciardi told Reuters.

The Bank of Portugal failed to sell Novo Banco last month after offers from two Chinese and one U.S. bidder came too short of the rescue amount, but plans to relaunch the process with more options than just the acquisition of 100 percent of the bank.

Ricciardi, a member of the Espirito Santo banking clan who had criticized the BES leadership practices and left its board in protest shortly before the collapse, said the postponement was a good solution that would "bring to the table not only the original bidders, but a larger number of interested institutions... and maybe even better starting prices".

Haitong Bank, which is eyeing an international expansion via a possible acquisition of a brokerage in New York and one or two asset management firms in Europe, has no plans to bid for any part of Novo Banco itself as it is not interested in commercial banks, he said.

In the failed sale attempt, Chinese insurer Anbang, Fosun International and U.S. fund Apollo Global Management reached the final stage and presented bids, but all were rejected by the central bank as too low.

Ricciardi said he believes more definition on how much capital Novo Banco may require to meet European Central Bank capital requirements was likely to improve the sale prospects.

"Also, as far as I know, Novo Banco management will be given important autonomy to sell non-strategic assets which do not interest potential buyers but add or free up capital ... so ultimately the amount of additional capital needed after stress tests could be lower," he said.

Haitong Bank plans to more than triple its capital and assets by 2018 to 1.5 billion euros and 15 billion euros respectively, is studying acquisitions in New York in Europe and expects to work in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas and in India.

The bank posted its first-ever loss in 2014 due to impairments linked to BES and the Espirito Santos' collapsed business empire, but Ricciardi said things were improving and return on equity should reach levels of 10-12 percent next year.

He also said that despite turmoil in the Chinese stock market and an economic slowdown, Chinese companies have accumulated huge financial resources that they can now use for diversifying their activities internationally, which could rekindle Chinese interest in Novo Banco.

(Writing By Andrei Khalip; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)