Two of the country’s four systemic banks, Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank announced yesterday that they have each successfully completed their share offerings, both exceeding expectations and indicating the improvement in the Greek economy. Both banks managed to generate a total of about 5.5 billion euros.
On Tuesday Alpha Bank priced its new shares at 0.65 euros each, earning about 1.2 billion euros, in an effort to strengthen its balance sheet and buy back from the government an estimated 940 million euros in preference shares. Piraeus Bank’s share offering of 1.75 billion euros was thought to be oversubscribed, as it managed to generate over 3 billion euros from its new shares, thus bolstering its capital.
These developments highlight the improvement of the Greek economy and could put Greece back on the market map as a country with many investment opportunities. Amongst Greece’s advantages is that while it is an emergent economy, it is backed by the euro, setting the country apart from the rest.
