(Sept 30): Greece is selling a 10% stake in National Bank of Greece as part of a privatisation drive that has seen the state exiting from lenders in the past year. 

The price range for the deal has been set at €7.30 to €7.95, the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) — a bank recapitalisation tool established at the start of Greece’s bailout programmes — said on Monday. The upper end of the range is higher than last Friday’s close at €7.84. This means that Greece could raise as much as €727.2 million (US$812 million or RM3.35 billion) from the sale. 

The books are expected to close on Wednesday at 2pm London time. This will mark the end of a state-sale cycle that saw Greece fully exiting from Eurobank Ergasias Services and Holdings, Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank. Still, the state will keep a 8.4% holding in National Bank. In November, the HFSF also sold a 22% stake in National Bank raising €1.06 billion. 

The Greek economy is outperforming most of its European peers. Last year, the country regained investment grade status, which it had lost in 2010 when its debt crisis started. As a result of the crisis, lenders were left with a huge pile of soured debt, but now the non-performing loan ratio has moved closer to the European average. 

In a further sign of a gradual return to normality, Greek banks were also allowed this year to pay dividends for the first time since 2008. 

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee