Greece’s National Bank gets four bids for insurance unit, says source

Four investors submitted binding bids to acquire a majority stake in Greek lender National Bank’s (NBG) insurance unit, a banking source close to the deal told Reuters on Tuesday.

Greece’s second largest lender by assets is looking to sell its National Insurance subsidiary as part of a restructuring plan it has agreed with regulators to exit from non-banking operations.

“Four binding offers were submitted,” the banker said without providing further details. “The aim is to sell at least a 75 percent stake in the unit.”

The bidders were Chinese conglomerate Fosun, Shanghai-based Gongbao and Wintime and John Calamos’s insurance start-up Exin Partners, the banker said.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are advising NBG on the sale.

Founded in 1891, National Insurance is the oldest insurer in Greece and is fully owned by NBG. It provides life and non-life insurance products.

NBG, with units in Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Albania, Romania and Cyprus, plans more foreign asset sales as part of its restructuring.

Last year it sold United Bulgarian Bank to Belgium’s KBC Group in a 610 million euro ($650 million) deal.

In March, NBG sold its entire 99.8 percent stake in its South Africa Bank of Athens (SABA) subsidiary to AFGRI Holdings.

In 2015, NBG clinched a deal to sell Turkish unit Finansbank to Qatar National Bank for 2.75 billion euros as part of moves to plug a capital shortfall identified by European Central Bank stress tests.

NBG has also sold stakes held directly or indirectly in 11 funds to Deutsche Bank Private Equity and Goldman Sachs Asset Management for 288 million euros.

[Reuters]