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Piraeus Bank withdraws offer for state ATE & Postbank
Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Economy
Stavros Lekakis, deputy CEO of Piraeus Bank, said in a statement that “two and a half months after the onset of interest in the Agricultural Bank-ATE and the Hellenic Postbank, Piraeus Bank withdrew its interest, noting that decisions are not due in the immediate period ahead”.
According to information leaked yesterday, the three international advisers (Deutsche Bank, Lazard and HSBC) hired by the government to evaluate the selling of ATE & Postbank, will publish their report after October 15, 2010. Originally the report was to be submitted September 15, later it was expected at the end of this month.
Greek media quote anonymous sources of Piraeus bank, as saying that the process is slow and given the upcoming municipal elections it seems as the procedure will be activated in late November.
Last July, Piraeus Bank submitted a proposal for the combined acquisition of 77,35% of ATE-Bank and 33,04% of the Hellenic Postbank, both controlled by the Greek state. The offer was for an amount of EUR 701 million in cash.
Reactions
Greek banking sector portal www.bankingnews.gr claims that the international advisers have already delivered their 100 pages report to the government, but that the government delays the procedure in order to avoid political opposition during the municipality elections campaigns. Reporter Petros Leotsakos characterizes the whole process as “paradox and oxymoron” commenting that “in summer the government sought to step up the process (of bank mergers) and urged the banks to make deals. Instead of the government to speed up procedures, it slows them down. Suddenly the incentives of the government to bank deals have stopped. The banks are waiting now for the government to clarify its stance“.
Those, who saw with suspicion the Piraeus offer from the very first moment, see themselves confirmed today.
In July KeepTalkingGreece was questioning the Piraeus acquisition proposal as a ‘move’ on the bank-mergers chess board aiming to help politically the government, urging banking deals.
We wrote:
Questions also rise in where Piraeus Bank will get the money from to buy ATE and Postbank. Rumors have it that Piraeus will get a negative grade at the stress test of European Regulators. This possibility is high. CEO Sallas gains time by biding for two banks and at the same time it brings the merger stones into rolling, just as the government wanted. Smart guy!
The majority of friends of mine who work at the banking sector raised doubts about the realization possibilities of the big deal. However they describe it as a definite “clever move yet with a clear political facet
Today some of my banker friends talk of “a fire work that faded out“.
Giorgos commented that “Piraeus Bank should have known that the process would take months“.
Giannis said, “it’s not a surprise, we didn’t expect the deal to materialize anyway”
Another Giannis wonders that if the ”Piraeus proposal was serious, the bank should have waited for official announcements and not take decisions based on leakages”.
Maria warned that “the withdrawal decision will undermine the credibility of any future offer by any bank”.
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