Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 13-04-15

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Recapitalisation of systemic banks entering final stage

[01] Recapitalisation of systemic banks entering final stage

Extraordinary General Assemblies of Shareholders are being convened to approve share capital increases in the context of their recapitalisation.

The first bank, Alpha Bank, convenes its General Assembly on Tuesday, April 16, and according to statements by senior staff and administration, the bank will succeed in generating the required 10 percent of private participation in the share capital increase, thus enabling it to remain under private control.

Alpha Bank, via the recapitalisation process, is putting emphasis in tandem on its full operational unification with Emporiki Bank, which will lead to significant cost-cutting synergies and its fortification on the domestic market. The relevant procedure, according to sources, is moving ahead without problems and within the time-tables that have been set out.

The next General Assembly scheduled is that of Piraeus Bank on Monday, April 22, and here too generation of the 10 percent private participation is considered certain, according to bank administrative executives. The bank is also placing emphasis on matters related to the completion of the operational unification with the networks of the (former) Cypriot banks it recently acquired. Piraeus Bank is now the largest banking group in Greece with respect to network of branches, with a large difference over the second-placed bank, especially following the suspension of the NBG-Eurobank merger.

The National Bank's General Assembly is slated for Monday, April 29. Following the full upset of its initial strategy of recapitalisation of the merged National Bank-Eurobank group, which was planned for the final stage of the merger, resulting from the recent governmental decision to freeze the merger, the National Bank administration has been racing against time to generate the 10 percent private participation. "The common goal is to successfully materialise the required private sector participation in the planned share capital increase. In a particularly difficult economic conjuncture, we are called on to rally together to achieve the minimum required private participation in increase," NBG CEO Alexandros Tourkolias said recently in a message to the bank's staff.

Finally, the Eurobank General Assembly will be held on Tuesday, April 20, with the aim of meeting the 10 percent private participation that will enable the bank to continue as an autonomous institution.

Upon completion of the general assemblies, the banks' administrative councils will convene to set out the terms and issue prices of the shares, which will be submitted to the Capital Market Commission and the process of increasing the share capital will commence in May.

The capital needs of the banks have been set at 9.7 billion euro for NBG, 5.8 billion euro for Eurobank, 4.5 billion euro for Alpha Bank and 7.3 billion euro for Piraeus Bank.

The recapitalisation of the Greek banks is guaranteed fully, whether the 10 percent private participation is achieved or not, by the Hellenic Fiscal Stability Fund (HFSF).

After completion of the recapitalisation process, the systemic banks will acquire healthy financial indicators that will enable them to gradually return to the international markets for liquidity and channel this liquidity in turn to the real economy, which is necessary to re-start the growth prospect of the Greek economy and take it out of the crisis.

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