National Bank of Greece to raise capital

Discussion in 'Wall St. News' started by ASusilovic, Sep 9, 2010.

  1. Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- National Bank of Greece SA, the nation’s largest lender, dropped 6.4 percent in Athens trading as it announced plans to raise 2.8 billion euros ($3.6 billion) to strengthen capital and fund expansion.

    The Athens-based lender will offer existing investors 121.4 million new shares at 5.2 euros apiece to raise 631 million euros, National Bank said yesterday in a statement. It will also issue convertible bonds to raise 1.18 billion euros and sell part of its Turkish unit.

    “It’s a bold move that makes a lot of sense,” Alexander Kyrtsis, an analyst at UBS AG in London, said in a note to clients today. The amount that National Bank plans to raise is “significantly higher” than market estimates of 1 billion euros to 1.5 billion euros, he said.

    Greek banks face soaring loan losses and a potential contraction in lending as the government implements austerity measures following the country’s 110 billion-euro bailout in May. National Bank is relying on markets outside Greece, including its Finansbank unit in Turkey, to boost profit.

    http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aLqsGyZ1Qtd8

    Five banks, including Deutsche Bank, agreed to underwrite National Bank of Greece SA’s 2.8 billion-euro rights offering this week.