Laiki, Marfin to boost complimentary services
HSBC completed the transfer of its 21.16% stake held in the capital of Laiki Bank Group to the new buyers on February 6, sealing possibly the largest M&A deal of the year and at the same time clearing a major uncertainty over its future intentions.
HSBC sold 9.98% of its stake to Marfin Financial Group of Greece, 8.18% to Tosca Investment Fund and 3% to Laiki Bank (Nominees) acting on behalf of the Laiki Group staff.
Laiki Chairman Kikis Lazarides is expected to explain in further detail the impact of the deal on the future of the bank during a press conference next week, where he may be accompanied by officials from Marfin.
The fact that Marfin Financial Group specialises in investment banking and asset management, while Laiki Bank concentrates more on retail banking, in addition to its other strengths — including factoring, leasing as well as its recent foray into Serbia — are seen complementing each other, according to Michalis Louis, Laiki Group General Manager.
Louis also told the Financial Mirror that Tosca Investment Fund, with assets under management of USD 3 bln, invests mostly in financial institutions with a proven long-term passive profile.
Tosca apparently has a 3% stake in Alpha Bank, as well as other strategic stakes in Standard Chartered and other banks.
Louis is also confident that the majority of the 3500 Laiki staff will hold on to their shares after the 3% stake purchased by Laiki Bank (Nominees) is distributed among staff at the same price of CYP 1.70 per share.
“There is nothing to stop staff from selling their shares, but the fact that they purchased the shares at a sizable price advantage, combined with the improving fundamentals of the bank, should act as a powerful incentive to convince them to hold,” said Louis.
He added that HSBC agreed to sell 3% of its stake to the Laiki staff only after the intervention of Laiki Chairman Kikis Lazarides.
Referring to Centrobanka in Belgrade, Louis said following the successful acquisition of the Serbian bank, experts from Laiki are already there helping in the organisation structure and product mix of the bank, with initial results beyond expectations.
The HSBC sale agreement was signed on Monday at the CSE on behalf of Marfin FG by Photis Karatzenis, on behalf of Tosca by its Chief Executive Martin Hughes, the Manager of HSBC in Cyprus Andri Antoniadou in the presence of HSBC senior executive John Hartley. On behalf of Laiki Bank Nominees Ltd., the agreement was signed by Laiki Group General Manager, Michalis Louis.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Chairman of Marfin, Andreas Vgenopoulos, accompanied by Laiki Group Executive Director Michalis Erotokritos were received by the Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus, Christodoulos Christodoulou.
