Piraeus Bank moves to buy Greek state stakes
GREECE’S fourth-largest lender Piraeus Bank offered to buy the government’s controlling stakes in two banks yesterday, in the first set of mergers seen as key for the sector’s survival.
The country’s socialist government has been urging banks to consolidate and form stronger companies better able to deal with the backwash of the debt crisis and foreign competition.
Piraeus chief executive and chairman Michael Sallas said his bank was offering €701m (£587m) for the government’s stakes in the two lenders – 77.31 per cent of ATEbank and 33.04 per cent of Hellenic Postbank – responding to government calls for Greek banks to restructure. “The new banking group will be the biggest in Greece in terms of loan and deposit market shares. It would be the second biggest banking group in the broader region,” he said. The move comes a week before Greece’s top six banks join 85 other European lenders due to unveil results of a stress test on the sector, aimed at restoring confidence.