Greece recapitalizes ATE Bank - Small chances for sale of 20.3% stake in Nis-based AIK

After a meeting with the delegations of the EU and the IMF, representatives of Greece announced that they would consider the sale of minority stakes in the banks Hellenic Postbank and Attica Bank once the market conditions were appropriate for that, Greek media quoted.

Greece will by end of January collect the required capital for ATE Bank, which failed the stress test this summer because of inadequacy of its capital. According to Greek media, immediately after the funds are collected, this bank, 77% of which are in the possession of the state, will be recapitalized.

After it was announced in July that ATE Bank had failed the stress test, the joint mission of the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank allowed the state of Greece to participate in the recapitalization that would, in case of the minimum issue of shares worth 243 million euros, have to secure the funds in amount of 185 million euros. Since it has become certain that this recapitalization will take place, it is unlikely that ATE will put up for sale its stakes in banks in Serbia (AIK Banka - 20.3%), Romania (74.1%) and Greek First Business Bank (49%), which has also been one of the alternatives in the process of strengthening the capital base of this bank under the control of the state of Greece.

ATE Bank entered the ownership structure of AIK in late 2006 by purchasing 20.3% of common shares of this Nis-based bank at the price of about RSD 5,200 per share. Also, in the same period, the Greek bank also bought 24.9% of preference shares of AIK. With the current prices, the package of shares of this Greek bank in Serbia is worth nearly 60 million euros since the common shares of AIK have grown by over 25% since early October.