Greece's biggest lender in terms of assets, the National Bank of Greece (NBG), revealed new plans on Wednesday that would help accelerate its partial exit from a profitable Turkish unit.
NBG said in a statement that its Turkish unit, Finansbank, has submitted a plan to capital market authorities to raise up to TL 715 million ($318.91 million) via an issue of new shares. NBG aims to reduce its current stake in Finansbank to 60 percent by the end of 2015, based on a restructuring plan approved by the EU. Turkey's Fiba Group sold 99.8 percent of its shares in Finansbank to NBG for $5.5 billion back in 2005. NBG said the share offering, without pre-emptive rights for Finansbank shareholders, will be made via a public offering and a private placement. Following the bank's statement on Wednesday, Finansbank shares traded more than 5 percent higher on Borsa İstanbul (BIST).
(Cihan/Today's Zaman)
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