Marfin to bid for Piraeus, Bank of Cyprus

…titles to be suspended

 

Marfin Popular Bank has said it will proceed to submit a takeover bid seeking control of Piraeus Bank SA of Greece and Bank of Cyprus Pcl, despite a counter bid submitted by Piraeus for Marfin, which the group says was made to thwart its takeover attempt.

In the meantime, the stock market authorities in Greece are ready to suspend trading on the titles of Marfin Popular Bank, Piraeus, Bank of Cyprus, Marfin FG and Egnatia Bank.

MPB CEO Andreas Vgenopoulos accused Piraeus Chairman Michalis Salas for abusing inside information for the announcement of the counter-bid. Apparently, Marfin executives had as a matter of courtesy informed the top Management and Board of Piraeus of their intentions, and most probably this was the topic of discussion that Vgenopoulos had the previous day with the Greek Finance Minister.

At 21.30 on Thursday night, Piraeus Bank launched a “friendly” takeover bid seeking control of Marfin, which analysts saw as a desperate move to halt the ambitious plans of Marfin, which by joining forces with Piraeus and Bank of Cyprus wishes to create the most powerful banking group in the country.

The bid by Piraeus also lacks in substance since it values Marfin at half the price at which it is already trading. Piraeus is offering a share exchange, in the ratio of 1 share for every 5.7 MPB share.