Funds boost investment in Cyprus banks
Investing in Cypriot banks is becoming increasingly common.
The progress they have made in terms of the nonperforming loan burden they have shed, their capital adequacy, which is characterized as good, the profits expected as interest rates rise, and the cost cuts they have implemented have transformed them into an appealing investment target.
Senvest Management increased its holdings in the Bank of Cyprus (BoC) to a healthy 8.06% on Monday.
The Canadian investment fund that sold its 3.2% stake in Hellenic Bank to Eurobank is seen investing more heavily in Bank of Cyprus stock only 10 days later.
Its stake grew from 7.11% to 8.06%, making the fund the third largest shareholder in the bank and very close to CarVal Investors, the second largest shareholder, which has 9.07%.
Senvest was also one of the buyers of a 300-million-euro BoC secondary capital bond in April 2021. The fund has shown faith in the Bank of Cyprus, and it appears that the proceeds from the sale of its Hellenic shares were invested in BoC.
CarVal Investors, BoC’s second-largest shareholder, has bought shares from Senvest in several Bank of Cyprus share purchases.
Carval, like Senvest, made another share purchase during the summer, becoming the second largest shareholder after Lone Star Funds, to control 9.07%.
Caius Capital has done a lot of position-building in BoC too, having financial instruments in addition to shares.
Caius owns 1.05% of the bank and 5.90% of the financial assets.
Despite being in eighth place in terms of Bank of Cyprus share capital, the American investment fund Eaton Vance Management is linked to Morgan Stanley and has built up a respectable stake in BoC, reaching 4.08%.
Hellenic Bank attracted the most attention from investment funds in 2018, when it acquired a large share of cooperative banks, though the interest of its largest shareholder, Cypriot fund Demetra Investment, which controls 21.3%, dates to before that.
Other funds investing in Hellenic include Pimco and Emma Capital, as well as Senvest, which is left with a 1.8% stake after its sale to Eurobank.
