Greece’s Alpha Bank details allocation of share issue

Greece's Alpha Bank said on Monday new shares issued to fill a capital hole identified in a European Central Bank (ECB) health check would be allocated to investors in a bookbuilding process and to bondholders that took part in a debt-for-equity swap.

Greece's fourth-largest lender by assets said 61 percent of its issue of 1.28 billion new common shares after a one-for-50 reverse share split would be allocated to investors that took part in its share offering.

The remaining 39 percent would be allocated to bondholders that participated in a voluntary exchange and swapped junior and senior debt for the new shares.

"The allocation marks the conclusion of the capital raising plan," Alpha Bank said.

Alpha generated equity capital of 1.01 billion euros from a debt exchange offer to bondholders. This, along with 180 million euros of other capital actions approved by the ECB, cut its 2.74 billion euro shortfall to 1.55 billion euros – the amount it raised through its share offering.

The bank priced the new shares at 2.0 euros each after the reverse split.

Citigroup Global Markets and JP Morgan were the global coordinators for the share offering and joint bookrunners with Barclays Bank.

[Reuters]