Novo Banco, S.A., the Portuguese bank lead by former AIB chief financial officer Mark Bourke, has attracted two bids from French banking group BPCE S.A. and CaixaBank, S.A. (BME:CABK) of Spain, according to people familiar with the matter. Lone Star, the US private equity giant which owns Novo Banco, could sell the lender outright but is also evaluating whether to offload shares through an initial public offering, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private. A preliminary decision on a winning bidder or the IPO route could be made as early as this week, the people said.

Representatives for BPCE, CaixaBank and Lone Star declined to comment. US private equity firm Lone Star owns a 75% stake in Novo Banco, while Portugal's government holds 25% through entities including the country's Resolution Fund. An acquisition of Novo Banco by BPCE, whose units include Banque Populaire and Natixis, or CaixaBank would be an important mark for cross-border banking deals in Europe.

Governments in the region have recently hampered potential deals Spain has been opposing the planned takeover of Banco Sabadell by BBVA, Italy is seeking to obstruct the purchase of Banco BPM by UniCredit, and Germany has said it s against a potential acquisition of Commerzbank by UniCredit. Portuguese finance minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento said in May that Spanish banks shouldn't further increase their presence in the country. Spanish lenders now already represent about a third of Portugal's banking market, he said in a television interview.

I think that value shouldn't increase, due to a matter of concentration and of dependency, he said. The Portuguese bank has repeatedly said it s preparing for an IPO. If Lone Star picks that option, Novo Banco may be Portugal s first major flotation in four years and the biggest since the listing of EDP Renovaveis in 2008.

Finance minister Sarmento said in January that Lone Star planned to sell a stake of about 25% to 30% of Novo Banco in a flotation. Novo Banco's flotation could raise EUR 1 billion or more depending on investor demand. The lender picked Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase as global coordinators for the first-time share sale.

Lone Star also lined up Deutsche Bank to guide discussions with potential buyers of Novo Banco.