Athens-headquartered Eurobank, which currently holds 29.2% of Hellenic Bank of Cyprus, recently announced that its shareholding in the Cypriot lender increased after the successful acquisition of an 18.9% stake. Of this, 17.3% belonged to Poppy S.à r.l. (PIMCO) and 1.6% to Senvest Management LLC.
Following this announcement, Eurobank will be obliged to initiate a Mandatory Public Offer for all shares of Hellenic Bank that are not owned by Eurobank.
If completed, the transaction would require approval from the European Central Bank and the Central Bank of Cyprus. Poppy S.à r.l. (PIMCO) and Senvest Management LLC will retain legal ownership of the shares until regulatory requirements are met.
Eurobank SA and its subsidiaries is a Hellenic banking and financial organisation that operates in 6 countries: Greece, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Serbia, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom.
As of 30 June 2023, the Eurobank Group has:
€ 81.5 billion in total assets
545 branches in Greece and abroad
10,476 employees
Eurobank Group provides an integrated range of banking and financial services:
Retail and business banking
Investment banking
Wealth and capital management
Cash management and capital market services
Financial leasing
Factoring and forfaiting
Trading services
Property services
Eurobank entered the Cyprus market in 2007, focussing on wholesale banking through a network of 6 own offices. In 2022, customer deposits grew by 9% to € 7.2 billion, while total loans and advances to customers were only € 2.7 billion. Its market share in the Cypriot loans market was 10.7% in 2022, while its share of deposits was 13.8%.
Hellenic Bank began is operations in 1976 and is now the second-largest bank in Cyprus by deposits and loans, after the Bank of Cyprus. Hellenic Bank has grown significantly in recent years, playing a role in the Popular Bank of Cyprus liquidation as well as the Cooperative Bank of Cyprus liquidation. It was also chosen to absorb certain loan portfolios from RCB Bank.
In 2022, Hellenic Bank’s deposits increased to € 15.9 billion, compared to gross loans of € 6.223 mln. Hellenic Bank’s load market share reached 28% in 2022. The Bank’s loan market share as at 31 December 2022 was 27.7%
The consolidation of the Cyprus banking sector is viewed as a potentially positive development as banks in Cyprus can gain synergies, operational scale and expertise needed to resume lending in volatile times.
Sources:
Undated.
25 August 2023
Undated.