So far the regulator has not revealed the name of the three entities still in the race to buy Novo Banco, but Chinese groups Fosun and Anbang and the US Apollo fund have been mentioned by the media as having presented binding bids.


The specialised press has insisted that the Chinese insurance company Anbang is the one that is negotiating exclusively with the BdP in this fourth phase of the Novo Banco sale process.


On Saturday, reporters asked the Portuguese prime minister about the possibility of the sale leading to a higher than forecast loss, to which he said that the result of the sale would be “the best that the BdP can manage", reaffirming his confidence in the governor, Carlos Costa, and the institution.


On 3 August 2014, the Bank of Portugal took over the reins of BES after it had presented net half-yearly losses of €3.6 billion and split the institution into a bad bank with all the toxic assets and liabilities (a vehicle which is still called BES, and where the shareholders are corralled) and a good bank, although it is only transitory, called Novo Banco.