Greek state eyes one-bln-€ benefit from sale of NBG stake held by HFSF; 9% of Alpha Bank passes to UniCredit for 293.5 mln€

The Greek state is expected to pour anywhere from 914 million euros to 1.09 billion euros into its coffers from the sale of a large stake held by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) in National Bank of Greece (NBG), depending on the number of shares to offered and the final price per share.

If 22 percent of NBG’s shares are sold by HFSF then revenue will hover at one billion euros, based on a sale price at five euros per share; 1.09 billion euros in revenue if the share price is set at 5.44 euros per share.

HFSF’s board of directors on Monday approved the public offering of the 20-percent equity stake, with the upsize option of up to 182,943,031 shares at a price range of 5 to 5.44 euros per share.

In an announcement, HFSF said NBG is not offering any shares in the offering and will not receive any proceeds from the sale of HFSF-held shares, with the net proceeds to be received by the selling shareholder.

The offer shares will be, primarily, floated in Greece to retail and qualified investors.

The same announcement noted that “…outside Greece, pursuant to private placements to (a) persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers in the United States of America and (b) certain other institutional investors outside the United States. The EBB shall remain open during the Greek Public Offering period (i.e. from 14 November 2023 until 16 November 2023) as of 10:00 Greek time, and until 17:00 Greek time, apart from the last day of the Greek Public Offering period, i.e. on 16 November 2023, on which it will close at 16:00 Greek time.”

Earlier in the day, HFSF announced that it has agreed to sell its entire stake in Alpha Bank group, namely, 211,138,299 common registered shares, UniCredit S.p.A. The equity stake corresponds to 8.9781 percent of the Greek systemic bank’s paid-up share capital and voting rights, and comes days after a share purchase agreement between HFSF and the Italy-based credit institution was finalized.

The deal translates into a consideration of 293.5 million euros for a 9-percent stake of Alpha Bank. UniCredit paid 1.39 euros per share.