Pancretan abandons takeover talks with Praxia
The plan for the acquisition of Praxia Bank by the Pancretan Cooperative Bank has failed. The two lenders had been locked in negotiations since mid-December, but on Friday the Crete-based bank announced that “the due diligence has been completed without the two sides coming to an agreement.”
Therefore Pancretan is continuing its business plan autonomously, the statement concluded, showing that the termination of talks is definitive.
The Bank of Greece had asked Praxia to perform a capital increase by end-December, and given the reluctance of Bob Diamond, who controls 100 percent of Praxia through Atlas Merchant Capital, to participate in the process, the lender turned to other interested parties.
As all systemic banks refused to take part, Praxia entered talks with Viva Wallet, which was mainly interested in Praxia’s banking license, before Pancretan intervened.
It is unknown what prevented a deal between Pancretan and Praxia, but market observers believe that Viva will return to the negotiating table, now that it has had its own capital increase of 70 million euros covered in its entirety by British private equity fund Hedosophia.
