Alpha Bank sale said covered

Alpha Bank has enough demand for all its stock as the Greek lender joined Piraeus Bank in selling 3 billion euros in shares to bolster capital, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Investors that bid below 65 euro cents apiece for Alpha Bank shares may not receive stock, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details aren’t public. The sale was set to close for investors at 10 a.m. in London.

Piraeus Bank, the country’s second-largest lender, said in a statement on Monday it plans to raise 1.75 billion euros and Alpha Bank is targeting 1.2 billion euros from new shares.

The sales represent “a vote of confidence for the Greek banking system,” Maria Kanellopoulou, a financial analyst at Euroxx Securities SA, said in an interview. “Major progress has been achieved, especially for those two banks.”

Investors are returning to Greece as it makes a comeback from an international bailout that roiled world markets. Greek lenders need to boost their capital by 6.38 billion euros after six years of recession and the biggest sovereign-debt restructuring in history left them with swelling bad loans, the nation’s central bank said this month.

Alpha, Piraeus and National Bank of Greece SA, the nation’s largest lender, were able to attract sufficient funds from private investors in stock sales in June to enable them to avert complete nationalization.

Yields on 10-year Greek government benchmark bonds were unchanged at 6.72 percent, near a four-year low on Tuesday in Athens. Borrowers are taking advantage of demand for riskier debt as central banks hold interest rates at record lows and as Standard & Poor’s says default rates will fall to 5.2 percent next year from 5.9 percent at the end of...