Intership sells Universal Bank stake in Cyprus

Intership Navigation sold its entire 9.6% it held in the share capital of Universal Bank Pcl (USB) at EUR 5.00 per share in cash in a deal valued at EUR 7.25 mln, which further cements the position of Aspis Group in Cyprus’ fourth listed bank.

Former Communications Minister and former CSE Chairman Pavlos Savvides, who previously held a 6.6% stake in USB, increased his stake by buying 322.000 of the shares or 2.1%, lifting his total to 8.7%. An unnamed company purchased the remaining 1.128.000 shares for a 7.5% stake in the bank.

Intership had acquired the stake in USB at EUR 3.80 per share when Aspis SA/ Commercial Value SA sold their stake in the company and by exiting at EUR 5 per share, has realized a cool profit amounting to EUR 1.74 mln.

Intership’s move follows a similar decision by Schoeller to sell its 25.5% stake in the Bank to Aspis/Commercial Value at EUR 5.00 per share. The transaction effectively lifted the stake of Aspis Group to 29.9%, giving it control of the bank.

The other principal shareholders in Universal Bank are Path Holdings (Adonis Papadopoulos) with a 25.5% stake and Universal Life with a 9.99%.

Reliable sources have confirmed to the Financial Mirror that last week, the Chairman of Aspis Group Pavlos Psomiades and Aspis Holdings CEO Lambros Christophi held a meeting with Universal Life CEO Andreas Georghiou.