China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC) is in talks with the Greek Cooperative Cigarette Manufacturing Company, known as Sekap, about a cooperation agreement, according to a Bloomberg story citing Greek newspaper Imerisia.

CNTC, the world’s biggest cigarette maker, sees a possible future purchase of Sekap, a unit of Agricultural Bank of Greece, as a way to enter tobacco markets in the Balkans, Imerisia reported, without saying how it got the information.
Sekap has also held talks with India's BBM Bommidala Group and an unidentified Turkish tobacco company, Imerisia said. Agricultural Bank intends to sell units unrelated to banking as part of a reorganization plan. (pi)