The management of Ethniki Bank has focused on the legal aspects of the scheduled merger with Eurobank in June, despite rumors suggesting the deal has been cancelled due to troika objections. Ethniki Bank executives claim that the merger has gone past the point of no return, regardless of any objections.
Ethniki’s managing director Alexandros Tourkolias claims he has not been informed of any troika objections to the merger, adding that the refinancing and merger procedures will continue as planned.
The “two recapitalizations” solution
In case an extension is not granted for the issue of new shares, at least until the legal merger has been complete in the early summer, Ethniki will be forced to go on with two capital increases, one for itself and another for its Eurobank subsidiary.
This might make attracting private investors hard to cover the 10% of the new shares must be covered, in order to avoid losing control of the banking group to the Financial Stability Fund.
In the meantime, the Bank of Greece has requested that the bank managements expedite the procedures for recapitalization, which must be complete by the end of next week, in order to then decide upon terms at general assemblies. Alpha Bank has already completed the process and made the relevant announcements to its shareholders.
The Bank of Greece has also requested that the banks detail their strategy on covering the 10% of private investments, so that the HCMC is updated by the end of April.
