Greece's Alpha Bank could bid for post
Alpha Bank, Greece’s second-largest bank, could take part in a tender for a stake in state-held Postal Savings Bank if the price is right, Alpha’s chief executive said in an interview on Sunday. Greece is set to launch an international tender for a 35 to 40 percent stake in Postal Savings after a principal shareholder in Bank of Attica, which the government hoped to merge with Post, failed to come up with a bid. “Undoubtedly, the Post Savings Bank is a big player in our banking system,” Alpha Chief Executive Officer Ioannis Kostopoulos told the weekend edition of Eleftherotypia newspaper. “It is hard to say right now if we are considering a bid. First we have to see the terms of the tender, for example what percentage of shares will be put up for sale. However, I cannot rule out our participation if the terms are in our interest”. Bankers expect an auction to attract considerable interest from Greek heavyweights interested in the bank’s nine billion euro ($10.4 billion) pool of deposits and national network of 600 outlets, which includes post offices in addition to its own branches. Analysts say the sale of a 40 percent stake in Post could bring in some 400 million euros for the state, which badly needs privatisation revenues to pay down a massive public debt which exceeds the value of annual economic output.
