CYPRUS: USB’s Sehnaoui pumps €40 mln to take over Piraeus

Lebanese businessman Maurice Sehnaoui, already in control of BLC Bank which in turn wholly owns USB Bank in Cyprus, has acquired Piraeus Bank Cyprus as the sole subscriber to the EUR 40 mln capital raise, according to media reports.

 
The deal is part of the Greek bank’s efforts to deleverage its overseas assets, but it will maintain a 17.6% holding in the Cyprus bank that employs 310 staff in 19 branches and boasts a healthy balance sheet. It has EUR 600 mln in loans and 1 bln in deposits, while the cash injection will improve its capital liquidity ratio to 15%.
The value of the share exchange has not yet been disclosed.
Piraeus, which acquired the Greek assets of the three Cypriot banks for a mere EUR 500 mln when the bailout agreement was imposed by the Eurogroup of Eurozone members, had recently sold its Egyptian subsidiary, which was managed by the bank’s Cyprus Chairman Constantinos Loizides.