Piraeus says talks with Bank of Cyprus broke down over “seats”

A senior official from Piraeus Bank has admitted that merger talks with Bank of Cyprus broke down at the last minute because of last minute demands made by the Cypriot side demanding more seats on the Board of Directors of the new entity and other petty issues.

Piraeus Bank Vice-Chairman Georgos Provopoulos is reported to have told Greek reporters in response to questions that the two sides were in advanced talks with a view to agree on a strategic alliance and cooperation pact between the two banks.

The deal was not agreed because the two sides disagreed mainly on the operation of the board of directors and the executive ranks of the new to be created bank.

The Piraeus executive is reported to have said that while initially there was broad based agreement, at the last minute (must be on Sunday or Monday March 4 or 5), Bank of Cyprus made a fresh demand to double up the number of board seats from the previously agreed 12 (divided equally 6 each) to 24, with each side holding 12 seats, which effectively means there was a need to satisfy more people to secure a seat.
Another point of disagreement was the demand by Bank of Cyprus officials to have three-quarters majority for crucial decisions, while other sources mention last minute demands made by Bank of Cyprus to create a position of non-executive president and not executive that would have been taken up by Piraeus Chairman Michalis Salas, while CEO of the new group would become Bank of Cyprus’ Andreas Eliades.