© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man walks past an Alpha Bank branch in Athens, Greece, January 17, 2022. REUTERS/Louiza Vradi/File Photo
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s state-controlled bank bailout fund HFSF said on Monday it sold its 9% stake in Alpha Bank to UniCredit 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 and also agreed to acquire most of Alpha’s Romanian business.
“UniCredit purchased all of the shares at a price of 1.39 euros per share, representing a premium of 9.4% to the undisturbed closing price of the Shares on the Athens Stock Exchange on 20 October,” the fund said in a press release.
Greece has been attracting significant investment as its economy strengthened after the crisis, prompting S&P Global to upgrade the country to investment grade in October.
HFSF sold last month its 1.4% stake in Eurobank and is expected to proceed with the sale of about 20% of National Bank in next coming days.
It acquired stakes in the four biggest lenders in the previous decade, injecting about 50 billion euros to recapitalise them during the country’s financial crisis.
