Bank of Cyprus acquires Interfund stake

Bank of Cyprus Public Company Limited announced that on 21 May 2007, through transactions on the Cyprus Stock Exchange it has acquired a stake of 39.213.908 shares in Interfund Investments Plc at the price of EUR0,47 per share at a total cost of EUR18,4 mln, which represents 23,58% of Interfund Investments’ issued share capital.

The purchase was made from SFS Group.

Before these transactions Bank of Cyprus had no shares in Interfund Investments. Cytrustees Investment Public Company Limited holds 360.000 shares in Interfund Investments. After the completion of the public Offer of Bank of Cyprus to Cytrustees’ shareholders, Bank of Cyprus will end up with a stake of 50% plus 1 share in Cytrustees.

After the abovementioned transactions, Bank of Cyprus’ direct and indirect shareholding in Interfund Investments is estimated at 23,80%.

Interfund was incorporated in 1997, is an approved closed-end investment company listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange. Based on the issued number of shares and the last announced NAV of Interfund Investments as announced on 15 May 2007, the net assets of Interfund Investments are estimated at EUR83 mln.

Bank of Cyprus secured the INF shares from SFS, which earlier had purchased a 19.3% stake held by the Proton Bank SA of Greece in Interfund (INF) at a cost of EUR 15 mln.

In a stock market announcement, Proton Bank SA confirmed the sale of its 19.3% stake in Interfund, or 32.213.408 shares at EUR 0.47 per share for a total amount of EUR 15.1 mln.

Proton is believed to have booked a profit of EUR 2 mln on the Interfund investment considering that it has been a constant purchaser during the last 2-3 years, well before the CSE rally started.