ATHENS--Greece's leading lender, the National Bank of Greece
(ETE.AT), has completed its long-awaited capital increase, raising
enough money from private investors to avoid a complete
nationalization by the state.
The lender said Friday that 10.8% of the 9.7 billion euro ($12.9
billion) capital hole it needs to fill came from private investors
amid solid interest from investors abroad. The remaining amount
will come from Greece's bank rescue fund.
"About 50% of the increase was covered by capital from abroad,
resulting in the inflow of investment capital to Greece of EUR500
million," it said in a statement.
As part of Greece's latest bailout by its euro-zone peers and
the International Monetary Fund, EUR50 billion has been set aside
to recapitalize the country's four big banks and restructure
another half dozen state and private lenders.
Under the terms of the recapitalization plan, the banks must
secure 10% of their capital needs from the private sector to
maintain management autonomy and avoid becoming fully state
controlled. Greece's bank rescue fund will underwrite the balance,
but will have only restricted management rights if its share is
less than 90%.
Write to Stelios Bouras at stelios.bouras@dowjones.com
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