Bank of Cyprus rights issue a success, raises €330 mln

Shareholders of Bank of Cyprus subscribed to cover about 95% of a 345 mln euro rights issue, the company said in a statement on Friday.
The island’s biggest lender said about 164.7 mln shares in its rights offering were subscribed for at 2 euros each, giving a subscription ratio of 95.4%. The issue has raised EUR 329.4 mln for the bank.
In early trading, the stock initially declined 1.5% to 4.01 euros and even dipped dipped to 3.95, but soon recovered to end the day at 4.06 euros, up 3c or 0.7% from the previous day’s close.
The bank will seek to place up to 7.9 mln shares to cover for those investors who did not exercise their rights. Officers at the bank’s Shares and Loan Stock Department explained that these rights will be auctioned and the holders will receive “far below” the exercise price of two euros. Other investors who were not confident that the stock would rise beyond the current range of 4.00 euros were quick to sell their rights on the stock market prior to the suspension of trade on October 14.