Hellenic Financial Stability Fund

Greece on Monday announced plans to sell a 20% stake in the National Bank of Greece (NBG) after concluding the sale of a 9% stake in Alpha Bank to UniCredit as it looks to divest from the country's lenders.

Greece's state-controlled bank bailout fund HFSF said on Monday it had launched a process to sell its 9% stake in Alpha Bank.

The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) last week received an offer from Unicredit for the stake as part of the Italian lender's plan to become Alpha Bank's biggest investor.

The issues of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund's divestment from Greek banks and the expansion of the Hercules program were at the center of the meeting held this week by Minister of National Economy Kostis Hatzidakis with the Hellenic Bank Association.

The new Hercules program will include three pending securitizations amounting to 3 billion euros.

The disinvestment program of the state from its holdings in banks will be fully implemented from this fall, starting with Eurobank and the allocation of its 1.4% stake.

Up next will be National Bank, in which the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) has the largest stake, amounting to 40.39%.

The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) on Wednesday announced the successful completion of a share capital increase scheme worth 473 million euros for Attica Bank with the joint participation of HFSF and private investors.

The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF), Thrivest and Pancreta Bank pledged to participate in a share capital increase plan by Attica Bank worth up to 393 million euros as part of a merger deal, Attica Bank said in an announcement. 

The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) on Wednesday announced the completion of the updating process for its divestment strategy, according to a 2010 law.

All interested parties are in agreement and it has been approved by the Finance Ministry, it said in a statement.

The Chief Executive of Greece's bank bailout fund (HFSF), Martin Czurda, submitted his resignation on Monday, after a little more than three years at the post.

The reasons behind the Austrian's resignation were not mentioned, but sources attribute it to his poor relations with the government.

A Finance Ministry bill that changes the founding charter of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF), set up in 2010, is opening the way for the participation of the fund in the share capital increases of banks up to the stake it already owns.

The conversion of Piraeus Bank's contingent convertible bonds (CoCos) into shares will be at a price of 6 euros per share, Kathimerini understands.

This is going to cost the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, the lender's majority shareholder, some €1.5 billion, according to sources.