Greek government sells 20% stake in National Bank
13 Nov 2023
The Greek government on Tuesday announced the sale of a 20 per cent stake in National Bank of Greece (NBG). The public offer of shares closed on 16 November.
NBG, the nation’s second largest bank by market cap, offloaded the 20 per cent stake via a public offer and a private placement, according to a statement issued by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF).
The offer price was fixed at 5-5.44 euros per share.
The Greek government had earlier sold a 9 per cent stake in another state-owned lender, the Alpha Bank to UniCredit.
Based in Athens, Greece, the National Bank of Greece (NBG) is the country’s largest bank by assets and the third largest bank by market capitalisation.
About 85 per cent of the company's pretax and pre-provision profits come from domestic operations while Southeastern Europe accounts for the remaining 15 per cent.
NBG was founded by bankers Jean Gabriel and Georgios Stavros in 1841 as a commercial bank.
National Bank of Greece had a market capitalisation of €1.06 billion as of 4 December 2018.
NBG enjoyed the right to issue banknotes in Greece until the establishment of the nation’s central bank, Bank of Greece, in 1928. NBG was also among the first to list on the Athens Stock Exchange when it was founded in 1880.
NBG, designated as a significant institution since the entry into force of the common supervisory mechanism for the European Union in late 2014, is directly supervised by the European Central Bank.