Piraeus Bank shares slide in Greece on cash call talk

Shares in Piraeus Bank, Greece's fourth-largest lender, fell more than 5 percent on Wednesday on press reports the bank plans to boost capital via a rights issue or a convertible bond, brokers said.
"Talk that Piraeus will proceed with a cash call is the reason the shares are falling. We saw it happen with National Bank's recent rights issue as well," said Theodore Mouratidis, an investment adviser at Fortius Securities.
At 0847 GMT Piraeus shares were down 5.09% at 3.73 euros, underperforming the Athens bourse's banking index which was down 1.3%.
On Tuesday, local websites reported Piraeus is considering issuing new shares or convertible bonds to raise about 500 mln euros.
Officials at the bank were not available for comment.
Greek banks, including Piraeus, have become reliant on ECB funding as the country's debt crisis has shut them out of the interbank funding market.
Piraeus, which is advised by Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and UBS, last month withdrew an offer to buy government stakes in ATEbank and Hellenic Postbank for 701 mln euros in cash, saying the government was taking too long to make up its mind.
The move would have entailed raising cash.
The government and the central bank have called on banks to rethink strategy and form stronger groups to cope with the effects of the country's debt crisis, fanning speculation that mergers and acquisitions will reshape the banking landscape.