EBRD ups Greek support via Fourlis bond buy

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Wednesday it bought 15 percent of retailer Fourlis’s 40 million-euro bond last month, in another effort to kick-start the ailing Greek economy.

Housemarket, a subsidiary of Fourlis which holds the IKEA franchise in Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus, said on Tuesday that the first Greek corporate bond to be listed on the Athens stock exchange was oversubscribed 1.25 times.

“This is a milestone in developing and boosting Greece’s capital market. The EBRD is delighted to have been able to support this issue as it provides a much-needed signal to the market that confidence is returning,” the bank’s director for manufacturing and services, Frederic Lucenet, said in a statement.

Housemarket has said it will use the proceeds of the bond, which is due to start trading today, to boost its working capital and investments in IKEA.

[Reuters]