EBRD ups Greek support with $7 million Fourlis bond buy

Fourlis Holdings SA

05/10/2016 12:15

ATHENS, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The European Bank for 
Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Wednesday it 
bought 15 percent of retailer Fourlis'  FRLr.AT  40 million euro 
($45 million) bond last month, in another effort to kickstart 
the ailing Greek economy. 
    Housemarket, a subsidiary of Fourlis which holds the IKEA 
 IKEA.UL  franchise in Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus, said on 
Tuesday that the first Greek corporate bond to be listed on the 
Athens stock exchange was oversubscribed 1.25 times. 
    "This is a milestone in developing and boosting Greece's 
capital market. The EBRD is delighted to have been able to 
support this issue as it provides a much-needed signal to the 
market that confidence is returning," the bank's director for 
manufacturing and services Frederic Lucenet said in a statement. 
    Housemarket has said it will use the proceeds of the bond, 
which is due to start trading on Thursday, to boost its working 
capital and investments in IKEA.  
    The EBRD has offered more than 600 million euros in 
financing to Greek private companies, banks and infrastructure 
projects since 2015. 
    In recent months, it has agreed a $20 million loan for 
Greece's sole oil producer Energean Oil & Gas  TPOG.L  and a 339 
million euros loan for the country's biggest telecoms group OTE 
 OTEr.AT . 
($1 = 0.8914 euros) 
 
 (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Alexander Smith) 
 ((angeliki.koutantou@thomsonreuters.com; +30 210 3376436; 
Reuters Messaging: angeliki.koutantou.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: GREECE EBRD/FOURLIS