The move is expected to take place mid-November, people familiar with the
matter said, asking not to be identified as the details aren’t public yet. The
aim is to attract as many long-term investors as possible.
The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, a bank recapitalization tool established
at the start of Greece’s bailout programs, holds about 40% of National Bank,
whose market value was almost €5 billion ($5.3 billion) on Wednesday. But it
has decided against divesting it all at once.
The plan is to sell 15% through a book-building process and offer the remaining
5% to retail investors, one of the people said. Representatives for National
Bank and the fund declined to comment.
The Greek government wants to move quickly with its divestment plan to signal
that the nation’s banking sector is returning to normalcy. A debt crisis that
started in 2010 lopped off the country’s gross domestic product by almost a
quarter and saddled its banks with more than €100 billion in bad loans. Lenders
have managed to reduce their non-performing loan ratio below 10% and the $219
billion economy is now growing faster than its European peers.
In early October, HFSF concluded its first divestment when Eurobank Ergasias
Services and Holdings SA bought back all the shares that the fund was holding.
HFSF also owns 27% stake of Piraeus Bank SA and 9% of Alpha Bank SA.
(source:Bloomberg)
