The Belgian financial group KBC and the largest bank of Spain La Caixa are in the process of negotiations with the country’s 9th largest Economic and Investment Bank (EIBank) for acquiring a majority stake, according rumours quoted by Reuters. KBC has recently finalised the deal for taking over 70% of Bulgaria’s largest insurance group DZI from the local firm Kontrakt Sofia and informed that it is interested in new acquisitions in Bulgaria under a budget of EUR 2bn earmarked for expansion in Central and Eastern Europe. Iceland’s billionaire Thor Bjorgolfsson controls 48.63% of EIBank through his firm Novator Finance Bulgaria. Two local physical persons (Tsvetelina Karagiozova and Svetoslav Bozhilov) own equal stakes of 24.3% each, while the remaining 2.8% are traded on the local stock exchange. The bank reports a total asset value of BGN 1.46bn (EUR 746mn) as of the end June and a net profit of BGN 30mn for last year. The net profit of the bank dropped to BGN 16.9mn in H1 as compared to BGN 21.3mn a year earlier. The market capitalisation of EIBank stands at BGN 794mn at present.