Russian investor buys into Greece’s Piraeus Bank

ICT Group, the vehicle of Russian investor Alexander Nesis, said on Wednesday that it had bought a minority stake in Piraeus Bank , whose share price has been hit hard by Greece's financial crisis.
ICT Group has acquired a stake of just under 5% in Piraeus Bank on the stock market and via a recent supplementary share offering, a spokesman for ICT said.
"It's a private bank, not a state bank — they are in much worse shape," ICT Group spokesman Vladislav Vershinin said, confirming a Russian newspaper report on the transaction.
The Vedomosti daily said the share purchases had cost ICT Group around 40 mln euros ($57.5 mln) and valued Piraeus at around a quarter of its book value.
In Athens, a Piraeus Bank official who declined to be named noted ICT had one seat on the bank's board.
"It's a long-term investment," he told Reuters. "ICT built its position through the open market in last few months in agreement with Piraeus management," the official said.
ICT Group becomes the second foreign investor to invest in Piraeus recently after Czech PPF bought a 5.7% stake in the Greek bank in late April.
ICT and PPF are co-investors in Russian bank Nomos, which recently floated on the London stock market.