Bank of Cyprus gets green light for rights issue

Bank of Cyprus won its shareholders' approval on Monday to boost its capital with a rights issue of up to 396.3 mln euros and a voluntary exchange of convertible securities of up to 600 mln euros, the lender said.
Bank of Cyprus and Marfin Popular Bank hold considerable quantities of Greek debt, and both have been urged by regulators to bolster their capital buffers by next June.
Last week Bank of Cyprus announced an 801 mln euro loss on the impact from a 50% writedown in the value of its Greek government bond portfolio.
The bank said there would be an issue of mandatory convertible notes of a total nominal value of up to 600 mln euros which would be offered to holders of convertible enhanced capital securities.
Shareholders also voted to increase the authorised share capital of the company to 3.0 bln euros with shares of a nominal value of 1 euro each, from 1.5 bln euros, the bank said.