Hellenic Bank seeks faster expansion abroad

Hellenic Bank Pcl (HB) has embarked on a more aggressive expansion course as regards the strengthening of its branch network in Greece as well as potential takeovers, “if and when opportunities arise.”

Andreas Panayiotou, Chairman of the board of Hellenic Bank told the Financial Mirror that the decision to submit a takeover bid seeking 50% plus one share control of Athena Cyprus Investments (ATH) is part of the expansion drive detailed in the 3-year Strategic Plan, released earlier by the bank.

“We saw an opportunity and we decided to seize it by submitting an all-cash bid,” he said.

Commenting on the Board proposal seeking shareholder authorization to issue up to 20 mln shares for possible takeovers, Panayiotou said that assuming that the motion is passed, the 20 mln shares are not necessarily restricted to planned takeovers in Cyprus, but may also involve specific foreign acquisitions.

“As outlined earlier, Hellenic Bank has received permission from the regulatory authorities to open a further six branches in Greece and plans are underway to expand the bank’s presence in new markets including Russia, Ukraine and the Balkans.”

Panayiotou nevertheless stressed that Hellenic Bank is only interested in the financial services sector and does not intend to diversify into other sectors such as leisure or the hotel industry.

Referring to prospects for 2007, Panayiotou said they are excellent and that the bank is on course to meet its targets as outlined in its recently announced Strategic Plan.

Asked if he is worried that the eagerness of banks to increase market share may push them to lend to people with a weaker financial standing, Panayiotou said that in parallel with efforts to increase advances, which were up 17% in 2006, “we are very careful so that we may not return to the days when the bad debt provisions became a problem”.

“Nothing is 100% controllable, but we have placed adequate safety measures so that the problem of bad debts does not come to haunt the bank again,” he promised.