Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) announces divestment strategy

The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) on Wednesday announced the completion of an updated process for its divestment strategy in a press release.

According to the statement, “…All interested parties are in agreement and it has been approved by the Ministry of Finance…

The Divestment Strategy adheres to the principles defined in the legal framework governing the operation of the HFSF as well as all relevant legal and regulatory provisions. The current HFSF legal framework elevates the divestment objective to a par with the Fund’s other objective, namely its contribution to the maintenance of Greek banking system financial stability for the sake of public interest and sets year-end 2025, the Fund’s sunset date, as the timeline of its completion.

The Fund will expend all reasonable efforts to dispose of all its shares in the Greek systemic banks before its sunset date, in an orderly manner, in line with its objective to maintain financial stability while ensuring market that it receives fair value.

The sale of shares in any of the Greek systemic banks is fully consistent with the HFSF’s responsibility to promote financial stability and reflects the progress of the banking sector in addressing past weaknesses and achieving sustainable profitability.

The divestment of the Fund’s holdings will also provide important benefits to the Greek economy as a whole by increasing the free float of the Greek banks that should further boost the Greek capital markets’ liquidity and efficiency, by providing more opportunities for foreign direct investment in the Greek banking sector at scale and by demonstrating pro-actively the progress towards re-establishing a banking sector under fully private ownership.

The HSFS will identify opportunities to initiate and execute well-designed transactions that monetise its portfolio in the most advantageous way always in compliance with the entirety of its legal framework. It will also consider any unsolicited approaches it receives and any proposals that may be put forward by the banks.

In deciding whether a sale of shares should be pursued, the HSFS will take into account its financial stability obligations as well as the fairness of the value offered for its holdings. In any case, when executing transactions, the HSFS will follow a transparent and competitive process while maintaining confidentiality as appropriate for the specific transaction.”

The entire press release is here:

Divestment strategy with transparency and credibility for the sake of the public interest and financial stability – Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (hfsf.gr)