Greece to start sale of National Bank stake in coming weeks - sources

Piraeus Bank SA

02/11/2023 14:14

ATHENS, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Greece's bank bailout fund
plans to start the process for selling a 20% stake in National
Bank (NBG)  NBGr.AT , the country's second largest lender, in
the coming weeks, two sources familiar with the matter told
Reuters on Thursday.
    After injecting about 50 billion euros ($53 billion) to prop
up Greece's largest banks during its decade-long economic crisis
in return for shares, the state-controlled Hellenic Financial
Stability Fund (HFSF) this year decided to start selling the
shares as the lenders have been recovering.
    HFSF last month sold a 1.4% stake in Eurobank back to the
bank and invited investors to submit bids for a 9.4% stake in
Alpha Bank  ACBr.AT , which UniCredit also wants to acquire.
    HFSF currently holds a 40.4% stake in NBG, with a market
value of 4.9 billion euros, and a 27% stake in Piraeus Bank
 BOPr.AT .
    "The ongoing process for the Alpha Bank's stake (sale) will
not delay the sale of National Bank's shares, planned for the
coming weeks," one of the sources told Reuters.
    A second source said there was strong interest from
international investors for the stake in NBG.
    Greece has been attracting significant investment in recent
years as its economy has been recovering after three
international bailouts that kept it afloat and ended in 2018.
    S&P Global upgraded the country's credit rating to
investment grade last month.
    Greek banks expect strong profits this year and hope to pay
out dividends in 2024 for the first time since 2010, when the
country's debt crisis erupted.      

 (Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas  Editing by Angeliki Koutantou
and Mark Potter)
 ((lefteris.papadimas@thomsonreuters.com; +30 210 3376477;
Reuters Messaging: lefteris.papadimas.reuters.com@reuters.net))