Nicosia

Bank of Cyprus, the Cypriot lender which recapitalized last year using depositors’ savings, said late on Monday it expected its shares to relist on the Cypriot and Athens stock exchanges by the end of October.

[Reuters]

Ireland’s budget carrier Ryanair on Friday submitted a plan to turn for-sale Cyprus Airways into a profitable operation by increasing passenger traffic by 500 percent over three years, officials said.

Troubled Bank of Cyprus, the island’s largest lender, said on Wednesday it has agreed to sell its stake in Romania’s Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel to an Austrian firm for 95 million euros.

The bailed-in bank said the proceeds will enhance its liquidity.

Bank of Cyprus, the island’s largest lender, has completed a 1 billion euro ($1.34 billion) capital increase in a private placement to help it restructure following a haircut on deposits last year.

BoC announced late Monday the successful placement of 4.2 billion new ordinary shares at a price per share of 24 euro cents.

NICOSIA – Cyprus will grant its first license for a casino resort within about a year, the government said on Friday, to be built in the south of the island where gambling has been strictly prohibited. Scores of Greek Cypriots regularly cross into the north of Cyprus, a breakaway Turkish Cypriot state recognized only by Ankara and where there are several casinos.

NICOSIA – Bailed-out Cyprus is likely to return to growth next year, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday, but cautioned the outlook was tempered by tensions over Ukraine and banks’ rising bad loans.

The Central Bank of Cyprus on Wednesday announced the suspension of all operations of the Cypriot branches of Tanzania-based bank FBME until Friday, with sources saying a possible extension of the suspension by another two days is likely.

Some of the Bank of Cyprus customers whose deposits were seized as part of an extraordinary move to rescue the island from financial collapse are selling stakes in the bank at a discount, the Financial Times reported on Monday. [Reuters]

Bank of Cyprus Pcl, the Mediterranean nation’s biggest lender, is weighing a capital increase of as much as 1 billion euros ($1.36 billion), said three people familiar with the matter.

The Bulgarian community in Cyprus has launched a fundraising campaign to help the flood-hit areas in Bulgaria, Friday.

Charity boxes have been placed in all Bulgarian stores in Nicosia, Larnaca, Limassol and Paralimni, as well as in the Consular Section at the Embassy of Bulgaria in Nicosia, and the Bulgarian school.