Greek state bank bailout fund sells 9% of Alpha Bank to Unicredit

Greece’s state-controlled bank bailout fund HFSF announced that it had sold its 9% stake in Alpha Bank to UniCredit for €293.5m after an improved bid by the Italian bank.

UniCredit announced last month it would become Alpha Bank’s biggest investor by buying a 9% stake owned by Greece’s HFSF. As part of the deal, it also agreed to acquire most of Alpha’s Romanian business for €300m.

The fund said UniCredit had bought its Alpha shares at a price of €1.39 each, representing a premium of 9.4% to the stock’s closing price on the last trading day before the initial announcement.

Last month, HFSF sold its 1.4% stake in Eurobank and is expected to sell about 20% of National Bank in the coming days.

It acquired stakes in the four biggest lenders in the previous decade, injecting around €50b to recapitalise them during the country’s financial crisis.

(Source: Reuters)