Recap offers are oversubscribed

Banks National and Alpha are likely to announce the successful completion of their share capital increases on Thursday, following Eurobank’s announcement on Wednesday to the same effect, while Piraeus is keeping its book of offers open. It is hoping to have covered the necessary amount by the end of the week.

Sources say Eurobank has amassed offers of 2.5 billion euros, against an original requirement for just over 2 billion euros. Group officials express satisfaction with the investor response, considering also the adverse conditions of the last few weeks.

The new shareholders of Eurobank will take control of the bank as they will control 93 percent of the shares after the completion of the transaction against just 7 percent that the existing stakeholders will possess. The stake of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) will decline from 35 percent to just 2.3 percent. The transaction will be completed early next week as many investors have set the disbursement of the eurozone bailout cash as a condition for their purchases.

Alpha Bank is said to have collected offers for 1.7 billion euros against a requirement for 1.4 billion, and it is expected to announce all the details at some point on Thursday. Analysts say that Alpha has secured the highest price, which will likely be at a 35 percent discount of its stock price. Eurobank will have a discount of more than 50 percent.

Sources say that National has received bids for 1 billion euros, also exceeding the target it had set for covering the needs of the baseline scenario of the stress tests. The details are also expected on Thursday, with the transaction to be completed in the coming days.

Next week National will also run a public offering for Greek investors who will be able to enter the process on the same terms as their international counterparts for an initial amount of up to 146 million euros.

Piraeus is suffering the greatest pressure in securing the necessary funds from the market. It has to draw 1.39 billion euros from investors and bank sources acknowledge the difficulties in the process while expressing optimism the bank will eventually retain its private character.