Piraeus bank seeks to buy back bonds

Piraeus Bank, Greece's fifth-largest lender, announced a tender offer on Friday to buy back 489 million euros ($652 million) of subordinated bonds and hybrid securities as it bids to boost capital adequacy.

The bank said the move would strengthen the structure and quality of its regulatory capital, and increase its Core Tier 1 capital by some 70 basis points from 8.1% to 8.8%.

"Investors are offered the opportunity to liquidate their holdings at prices significantly higher than the secondary market," Piraeus said.

National and EFG Eurobank made similar tender offers at the start of the year.

The deadline for the Piraeus offer is March 9, with Barclays Bank Plc and Morgan Stanley acting as dealer managers.

Greek lenders are battling rising bad debts and a shrinking deposit base as the country enters a fifth year of economic contraction.

Banks are expected to recapitalise in a variety of ways after writedowns resulting from a planned bond swap, which calls for a 53.5% nominal writedown on Greek government bonds.