Greece's NBG stake sale meets strong demand
Adds oversubscription, quotes from official, background
ATHENS, Sept 30 (Reuters) -Demand for a 10% stake sale in Greece's National Bank (NBG) NBGr.AT by the country's bank bailout fund was oversubscribed by six times on Monday, in the first day of a book-building process which ends later this week, two sources told Reuters.
With the sale, Greece will conclude the re-privatisation of its banks, 12 years after stepping in to bail them out during a debt crisis that nearly drove the country out of the euro zone.
"There is strong demand from investors," an official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The HFSF has set the price range for the offering at 7.3-7.95 euros. The book will remain open until Oct. 2.
A second official confirmed the oversubscription. The shares of the bank were trading at 7.93 euros on Monday, gaining 1%.
The bailout fund (HFSF) holds an 18.4% stake in NBG, Greece's second largest lender by market value. The remainder will be transferred to Greece's sovereign wealth fund at the end of the year.
After injecting about 50 billion euros ($54.37 billion) into Greece's four largest lenders in return for shares during the crisis, the fund start divesting itsholdings in Eurobank EURBr.AT, Alpha Bank ACBr.AT, Piraeus Bank BOPr.AT and part of its stake in NBG late last year.
Athens needed three international bailouts from the European Union and the IMF between 2010 and 2015, totalling more than 260 billion euros. Since exiting the bailouts in 2018, it has relied solely on the markets for its financing needs.
It returned to investment grade credit rating in 2023
Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Editing by Alexander Smith and Chizu Nomiyama
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