Greece’s bank bailout fund is likely to sell its entire 27% stake in Piraeus Bank  in early March, a source close to the process told Reuters.

It will be the fourth such sale since October by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) that was set up to recapitalise Greek banks during the country’s decade-long financial crisis from 2008-2018.

“There is strong interest from many foreign investors,” a second source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Piraeus, Greece’s third-largest lender, has a market value of 4.9 billion euros, which means that state-controlled HFSF could sell its stake for more than a billion euros.

Having injected about 50 billion euros into the sector, HFSF began reducing its holdings in four major Greek banks last autumn.

It sold a 20% stake in National Bank NBGr.AT and 9.4% of Alpha Bank in November and a smaller stake in Eurobank in October.

Original Story: Reuters / Nasdaq
Author: Renee Maltezou
Photo: Reuters