ATHENS: Greece's Alpha Bank said on Monday new shares issued to fill a capital hole identified in a European Central Bank (ECB) health check would be allocated to investors in a bookbuilding process and to bondholders who took part in a debt-for-equity swap.
Rival Eurobank said 80 percent of the new shares it sold in a share offering completed last week were allocated to investors in the placement, while the remaining 20 percent went to bondholders who took part in a debt-for-shares swap.
Eurobank and Alpha, Greece's third and fourth largest lenders, are plugging their capital shorfall without state aid after investors showed strong interest in their share sales, giving a sign of confidence Greece can start growing again. Rivals Piraeus and National however were likely to require help from the country's bank rescue fund.
Eurobank had orders of 2.6 billion euros, more than the 2.04 billion it was looking to raise. It priced its share offering at 0.01 euros per share, or 1 euro per share after one-for-100 reverse share split.
Alpha said 61 percent of its issue of 1.28 billion new common shares after a one-for-50 reverse share split would be allocated to investors who signed up for its share offering.
The remaining 39 percent would be allocated to bondholders that participated in a voluntary exchange and swapped junior and senior debt for the new shares.
"The allocation marks the conclusion of the capital raising plan," Alpha Bank said. For its part, Eurobank said 80 percent of the new shares it sold in a share offering completed last week were allocated to investors in the placement, while the remaining 20 percent went to bondholders who took part in a debt-for-shares swap.
Alpha generated equity capital of 1.01 billion euros from a debt exchange offer to bondholders.
This, along with 180 million euros of other capital actions approved by the ECB, cut its 2.74 billion euro shortfall to 1.55 billion euros - the amount it raised through its share offering.
The bank priced the new shares at 2.0 euros each after the reverse split.
Citigroup Global Markets and JP Morgan were the global coordinators for the share offering and joint bookrunners with Barclays Bank.
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