The Chinese group Fosun and the private equity fund Apollo both have delivered binding offers for the purchase of Novo Banco.
The Spanish bank Santander and venture fund Cerebus decided not to continue in the process.
The deadline was at 5pm today, Tuesday 30 June and later the bank reported that three binding bids had been received, Apollo, Fosun and Anbang.
There were five candidates who participated in the "due diligence" phase - Apollo, Anbang, Cerberus, Fosun and Santander.
At this stage those selected had access to detailed financial information from Novo Banco, as well as legal and taxation data. Based on this information the companies could choose whether or not to present binding proposals.
Cerberus and Santander decided not to go ahead.
In the coming days, the Bank of Portugal, led by lame duck governor Carlos Costa, will evaluate the proposals accepted from Apollo, Fosun and Anbang and decide whether or not to ask the candidates to raise their offers.
Costa needs around €4.9 billion to cover the mess created for the taxpayer when BES went bust last August on his regulatory watch.
The bids that have made it into the final lineup are thought all to include turning part of the money owed to the taxpayer into shares or bonds in Novo Banco, thus delaying a full repayment of the €4.9 billion shelled out to rescue BES last August.
Any delayed payment will be bad news for the treasury and yet another embarassment for the Governor of the Bank of Portugal.
The treasury already has accounted for a minimum of €4 billion in cash for Novo Banco to be included in this financial year's national accounts. Should the money not appear, Finance Minister Maria Luis Albuquerque will have to find an equivalent sum from other sources during the second half of the year, either by accelerated sell-offs or from a rise in taxation.
