tagged: Alpha bank eurobank, Greek Banks, Marfin Popular bank, merges, National Bank, Piraeus, rumors, scenarios

Greek Banks: Merger rumors and sale whispers (Upds)

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Economy

The rumors kitchen in Greek banking system is boiling. Merger scenarios here, sale whispers there. September seems to be the month of the banks,  better say, of the Greek banks! Bankers may have had a chat or two with other bankers on a yacht during their summer vacations. Now the time has come to put their verbal agreements into written practise. Bank mergers are inevitable.  It is the wish of the government, as expressed by Finance Minister Papaconstantinou last July. You will be right too, if you say, it is just the extended wish of  Greece’s lenders IMF and EU.

At the same time, Greek banks will undergo new stress tests , important and necessary for restructuring of the domestic banking system, and Greek government’s banking system advisers are preparing their reports.

Rumors and scenarios have started to go around again with the strongest one referring to an alleged ALPHA-EUROBANK merge. The older  Who-With-Whom scenarios I have posted in Stress Tests, Haircuts & Mergers.

Dismissing Rumors

As the rumor kitchen boils some Greek bankers went public and dismissed  scenarios of possible bank sales or mergers.

Andreas Vgenopoulos, from Marfin Popular Bank, dismissed claims of an internet portal that he is selling the bank.

Also, National Bank of Greece CEO, Apostolos Tamvakakis, dismissed rumors, saying there are ” no immediate plans for a merger or acquisition”. He also said that National Bank is selling the 20% of its Turkish daughter Finansbank, a deal expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2011, but said they are not planning to sell it entirely.

 Merger Scenarios

Economics portal Capital.gr writes today that even though there has been neither dismissal nor confirmation from the two banks, it is certain that the two sides have conducted extensive negotiations. the portal claims that in the new deal Giannis Kostopoulos (ALPHA Bank) will be the ultimate boss of the new formation for a period of 10 years,  and that Spyros Latsis (EUROBANK) will keep a huge percentage. Capital.gr sees in the deal “also a window of opportunity for participation of  a large foreign group” in the deal.

PIRAEUS – -POSTBANK – ATE BANK

Last  July  Piraeus Bank surprised everybody by offering 701 million euros to buy the government stakes in state-controlled ATEbank  and Hellenic Postbank . The offer is currently under scrutiny of the international advisers (HSBC, Deutsche Bank & Lazard)  hired by the Greek government to check and make proposals about how Athens will proceed in bank privatisation. The report of the advisers is awaited at the end of September.

Details about the Piraeus offer you can read  our posts  Pireaus’ Checkmate-Background   and  Procedures & Reactions 

NBG – Capital incease

National Bank of Greece, the country’s largest lender, said late Tuesday it will seek to raise EUR2.8 bil. to boost its capital base.