Gov’t to divest from Piraeus, NBG

Within the first half of 2024, the government aspires to proceed with its divestment from the two systemic banks, National and Piraeus, in which it maintains a stake, with Piraeus taking the lead immediately after the announcement of its annual results on February 24.

The main goal in both cases is to dispose of the entire percentage the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund controls in both banks and for the state to reduce its participation to zero – i.e. allocating its 27% stake in Piraeus and the remaining 18% in National.

Nevertheless, the final decisions regarding the percentage that will be allocated, and whether this will be done immediately within the first half or gradually by the end of 2024, will be taken at the beginning of next year. According to government sources this will depend on the conditions prevailing in the markets and the overall economic environment.

In Piraeus’ case, the state’s stake is high and if the decision is made to have it all sold, the book-building process will be followed, corresponding to what happened in the case of National for the disposal of the state’s 22% stake last month.

In this context, the HFSF will start procedures immediately after the Christmas holidays for the recruitment of a financial consultant, to investigate investor intentions as to whether the 27% stake can be absorbed by the market and, of course, the price those shares could be made available at.

The capitalization of Piraeus amounts to 4 billion euros and the sale of 27% could generate income of the order of €1 billion – i.e. similar to what the sale of 22% of National brought. Accordingly, National’s capitalization has reached €5.7 billion and the sale of the remaining 18% can also generate income of more than €1 billion, depending on the divestment time to be chosen and the course of the price.

In National’s case the fund cannot carry out another transaction until end-May, so if the scenario for both privatizations to be completed in the first half of 2024 or by July is chosen, procedures should move quickly.