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Eurobank to become a subsidiary of the National Bank of Greece in mid-January

24 November 2012 / 19:11:14  GRReporter
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On Friday, National Bank of Greece's CEO Alexandros Tourkoulias informed shareholders about the chronology of the merger with Eurobank.

1. By the end of November, a request for a public offer will be submitted to authorities for the exchange of the two banks' shares.

2. In December, the Governing Board of Eurobank will express a positive opinion on the proposal.

3. After the necessary approvals, the public offer for the exchange of Eurobank's shares with new shares of the National Bank will begin in mid-December.

4. The process will last about four weeks and it is expected to end successfully in the first week of January, if Eurobank's main shareholder, Latsis Group, which owns 44% of the shares, accepts the offer.

5. Eurobank will become a subsidiary of the National Bank after the end of the offer. Legal merger is expected to be completed by next July, and, in practice, the final merger will take about 2-3 years.

Alexandros Tourkoulias added that the merger is expected to generate a high added value and it is estimated that a joint participation of approximately 570 to 630 million euro before taxation on an annual basis will be achieved by 2015. Based on data from the first quarter of 2012, the total assets of the enlarged bank will amount to 180 billion euro. Thus, the new group will rank among the thirty largest European banks.

The total domestic market share of loans is 36% and the market share of deposits amounts to 32% - rates which absolutely correspond to a banking system supported by three fundamental pillars. As a result of the enlarged deposit base, funding opportunities for the new group are expected to gradually strengthen. The bank will also have more opportunities for a faster access to international markets.

Based on market share of loans, the new bank will rank first in Bulgaria and Macedonia, and third in Romania and Serbia, and it will play a significant part in the economy of these countries.

In parallel, Turkish Finansbank will continue to contribute significantly to the assets and results of the group.

As stated by Tourkoulias, the strategy with regard to activities in Southeast Europe will be substantially different due to the merger. Because of the strong capital presence in Southeast European countries (ranging from 15% to 24%), the strategy of selective development in the region will continue. The share of co-financing is estimated at approximately 30% of the total value. Consolidation of deposit bases of the two banks will be a strong pole of attraction for capital, and, in parallel, it will allow the achievement of a lower cost of funding.

The General Meeting of the National Bank met with a quorum of 32.77% of contributed share capital and made the following decisions with a vast majority:

1. Reduction of the bank's share capital through a reduction of the nominal value of the common shares to 1 euro per share, aiming at the creation of a special fund.

2. Increase of the bank's share capital through the emission of new nominal shares for a share (i.e. of Bank Eurobank Ergasias's shares, and the capital increase will be covered exclusively by the bank's common shareholders who will accept the public offer of the bank with a congruence of 58 newly emitted common shares of the National Bank for 100 shares of Eurobank Ergasias), with an annulment of the right of preference on existing shares.

3. Elected members of the Governing Council, for a three year term, are the following: Alexandros Tourkoulias, CEO, Petros Christodoulou, Deputy Executive Director, George Zanias, Chairman of the Board, Ioannis Yiannidis, Efthimios Katsikas and Stavros Koukos. His Grace Theoklitos, Bishop of Ioannina, Stefanos Varvalidis, Spiridon Theodoropoulos, Alexandra Papaleksopoulou-Benopoulou, Petros Sabatakakis and Maria Frangista are independent ineligible members.

Tags: the National Bank Eurobank merger
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