NBG has no plan to raise bid for Greece’s Alpha

National Bank of Greece (NBG) is sticking to its all-share bid for smaller rival Alpha Bank and is not in talks to improve it, an official at NBG told Reuters on Monday.
Greece's biggest bank made an offer on Friday for the third largest lender Alpha via an 8-for-11 share swap, in an bid to form a group better able to cope with the country's debt crisis. The move was supported by the government.
But Alpha Bank rejected the offer, which values it at around 3 bln euros, saying it was not in its shareholders' interest, opening the way for a takeover battle.
"National Bank is sticking to the offer it has put forth, which is very generous for Alpha's shareholders," said the NBG official, who declined to be named.
Asked whether National Bank was in talks on improving its bid, the source said: "There is no discussion going on."
NGB's move caught the market by surprise on Friday, sparking a strong rally in bank shares, with investors seeing it as laying the ground for other bank mergers and acquisitions, including Marfin Popular Bank's bid in 2007 for Piraeus Bank.
Both NBG and Alpha have extensive retail banking franchises in south eastern Europe, as well as in Cyprus.