Alpha Bank has rejected the "friendly" takeover bid by rivalNational Bank of Greece (NBG), the biggest Greek bank, but thematter is not considered closed, with talks continuing in thebanking circles of Athens.
The state has a crucial role in acting as a catalyst towards aprospective deal, being a major shareholder of NBG, with onerepresentative in the Board, as well as holding preferential sharesin Alpha, which was injected with liquidity amid the crisis thatdevastated Greece in the last year. NBG's bid dates from January18th and Alpha, the third-largest bank in Greece, admitted it hasheld exploratory talks. The Board has a big say at Alpha, holdingaround 10% of the shares, while the remaining shareholders areheterogeneous: 47% is held by individuals, 34% by foreigninstitutional investors, 10% by Greek institutional investors.Alpha would need to consolidate its capital, but traditionally egosare very big in the Greek banking industry. If the transaction doesgoes ahead after all, a bank with 200 billion euros in assets willresult, which would rank among the 30 biggest banks in Europe. InRomania, the merger would create the third-largest local bank, withan 8,5% market share, but still far behind the second leadingplayer, BRD.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
