Piraeus Bank

Athinon Avenue had another mixed session on Wednesday, with the benchmark closing virtually unchanged, while mid- and small-caps improved their end-of-year picture, with gainers outnumbering losers by a ratio of almost three-to-one overall.

The benchmark of the Greek stock market reverted to its northbound course on Wednesday, but once again it ducked back below the 800-point mark before the close, after testing the waters during the session. It will probably take one more final push for the index to reach that level, and with tomorrow seeing the last triple-witching session of the year, anything is possible.

The Greek bourse benchmark climbed on Friday to highs unseen since late February after its 11th consecutive day of gains, which were quite handsome too, on the day the third-quarter growth data were issued. Likewise, the Greek benchmark 10-year bond yield reached a new low on Friday, at 0.626 percentage points.

CVC Capital has obtained full control of Greek food giant Vivartia through a 600-million-euro deal with owner Marfin Investment Group, following the MIG board's decision to approve the transfer.

International agencies view the outlook of Piraeus Bank favorably after the formal verdict by the European Central Bank that leads to turning the Greek lender's contingent convertible bonds (CoCos) into common shares, and despite the major drop in third-quarter profits announced.

The management of Piraeus Bank has announced a program to boost its capital base by 1 billion euros to create the cash reserves that will allow it to proceed with a more aggressive reduction of its bad-loan portfolio.

While informing analysts of the bank's third-quarter financial results, Chief Executive Christos Megalou said that the cash boost plan has four main points.

Piraeus Bank, one of Greece's four largest banks, on Monday reported a sharp drop in third-quarter profit compared with the previous quarter on the back of higher loan impairment provisions and weaker trading income.

Unknown assailants set fire to two ATMs at the Piraeus Bank branch in Pefki, northern Athens, early on Tuesday morning.
The arson attack caused damage to the two cash machines located outside the bank branch at 43 Irini Avenue.
Police are conducting an investigation to locate the perpetrators.

Piraeus Bank has applied to the Hercules asset protection scheme that aims to reduce banks' exposure to nonperforming loans through their securitization.

The application concerns the securitization of Phoenix, a €1.9 billion portfolio of housing loans.

Piraeus' application leaves National Bank as the last of the "big four" Greek retail banks that has not applied to the scheme.

Some hedge funds that bet against a series of Greek and Italian companies are nursing losses after the European Union's breakthrough plan for a 750 billion euro (£673 billion) recovery fund sent stock markets surging across southern Europe.