AUSTRIA - Private equity group expected to bid for BAWAG

Austria's fourth largest bank in terms of volume of assets, BAWAG, is expected to receive offers from at least four financial and trade buyers. Morgan Stanley has been appointed to run the auction process. Expected bidders are Austrian banks Raiffeisen and Erste Bank, US private equity group Cerberus, in a consortium with Italian insurer Generali and German mortgage lender W�stenrot, as well as financial investors Lone Star and JC Flowers.