National Bank of Greece sells 450 mln euro bond

National Bank of Greece, the country's top lender, said on Friday it sold 450 mln euros of privately placed 10-year bonds to investors to boost its regulatory capital.
National said the sale, which came just a few hours before the publication of regulatory stress test results of European banks, was a sign of investor confidence in its financial strength.
Greece's debt crisis has caused the country's banks to lose access to wholesale financial markets to fund their operations, making them dependent on the ECB and the sale of asset-backed bonds.
"It is indicative of investors' confidence to National that the sale was completed within four days," the lender said.
The bond pays a 7% coupon for the first five years and 9.5% for the final five years until its maturity.
The proceeds will boost National's core tier 1 ratio by 34 basis points and its total capital ratio by 66 basis points, the bank said.
National, which had a Tier 1 capital ratio of 11.1% at the end of March, was expected to pass the stress test. A National Bank source told Reuters the bond's proceeds were not incorporated in the stress test's assumptions.