Marfin market cap falls behind Bank of Cyprus

The 11% decline in the share price of Marfin Popular Bank (CPB) since word emerged that it wants to absorb the operations of Bank of Cyprus Pcl (BOCY) and Piraeus Bank (TPIER) has forced the Group’s market capitalization to decline to EUR 6.17 bln, well behind the market cap of Bank of Cyprus and sharply lower than last week’s EUR 7 bln market cap.

At the close of business on Tuesday, Bank of Cyprus boasted a market cap of EUR 6.28 bln based on the closing price of EUR 11.36, bringing its total gains since the start of the year to 10%.

Marfin Popular Bank boasted the second largest market cap, after its stock closed dived another 3.15% to EUR 8.00, which in the process forced the year-to-date gains to 10.2%, at par with those of BOCY. Marfin was the most active on Tuesday on volume of EUR 45.1 mln, mostly because of a negotiated deal of 4.09 mln shares at EUR 8.00 per share booked by Alpha Finance.

The large trade by Alpha Finance boosted the overall volume of the CSE to EUR 63.8 mln with the index ending at 4265.40 points, taking its year-to-date gains to 9.3%.

The third most active was Hellenic Bank (HB), which ended 0.56% lower at EUR 3.58, forcing its year-to-date gains to 7.3%.

Piraeus meanwhile its market cap at EUR 7.13 bln.