The National Bank of Greece (NBG) announced on Friday it had successfully completed its equity offering, with its new shares priced at 2.2 euros each as the order book closed Thursday. NBG aims to raise 2.5 billion euros to boost its capital base. NBG is the latest Greek bank to tap the equity markets for a capital increase as the prospects of Greek economy‘s growth renew confidence in the country’s banking system. “The share offering was substantially oversubscribed, confirming a strong interest by institutional investors in National Bank,” announced NBG. NBG officials stated that major foreign investors such as Fidelity, Pacific Investment Management Co. and York Capital, were among the buyers of the stock. Eurobank, Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank have raised 5.81 billion euros through similar equity offerings over the past six weeks. NBG has a stock market value of 6.73 billion euros and is 84%-owned by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF), whose stake will fall to 57% after the successful capital increase.
Proceeds from the sale will cover the difference between a 2.18 billion euro capital hole, revealed in a central bank stress test in March, and to boost capital by 1.04 billion euros, as approved by the Bank of Greece.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley acted as global coordinators and bookrunners, joined by BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, HSBC, UBS and Mediobanca.
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