By Alkman Granitsas
ATHENS--Greece's largest lender, the National Bank of Greece SA
(NBG), said Monday that it had held talks with France's Credit
Agricole SA (ACA.FR) over possible cooperation.
The statement, made to the Athens Stock Exchange, gave no
details but comes following recent media reports suggesting that
NBG could be a potential buyer of the French bank's Athens-based
Emporiki Bank (TEMP.AT) subsidiary, which Credit Agricole is trying
to sell in an effort to exit the Greek market.
"National Bank informs the investment community that there have
been discussions between the management of National Bank and Credit
Agricole about the possibilities of future strategic alliances,
which as of today are at a preliminary stage," NBG said.
At the weekend, the Financial Times reported that NBG and rival
Greek lenders Alpha Bank AE (ALPHA.AT) and EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA
(EUROB.AT) have all expressed interest in taking over Emporiki,
acquired by Credit Agricole from the Greek state in 2006.
The planned sale of Emporiki, first disclosed by The Wall Street
Journal last month, comes as its French parent tries to cut its
exposure to Greece after chalking up more than a billion euros
worth of accumulated losses in the six years since it bought the
Greek bank and following Greece's debt restructuring this year.
In May, Credit Agricole, one of the biggest banks in Europe by
capitalization, reported a 75% drop in first-quarter net profit
after it was hit by its exposure to the Greek debt crisis.
At the time, the company said total losses on Greece were 940
million euros ($1.2 billion) including costs linked to the Greek
sovereign debt swap agreed in March and provisions related to its
majority stake in Emporiki.
Write to Alkman Granitsas at alkman.granitsas@dowjones.com