ATHENS â€" Piraeus Bank, Greece’s largest lender, is set to became the first Greek bank to tap the capital markets since the euro zone crisis erupted five years ago.
Piraeus is planning to issue a senior bond after a European road show that is to begin next week “with a series of meetings with fixed-income investors in selected European cities,†the bank said in statement on Thursday. It did not specify the value of the debt issue, but media reports indicated it would be 500 million euros.
The bond issue will be ahead of the planned assessment by European regulators of regional banks this fall. Piraeus Bank said it was able to make the leap because of “the constantly improving economic environment in Greece and the strong position of Piraeus Bank.â€
It added, “Piraeus Bank aims to access debt capital markets for the first time in five years, further differentiating its sources of liquidity and reaffirming its institutional role in the Greek economy.â€
Piraeus Bank is one of the country’s four main lenders that were recapitalized with 28 billion euros last summer as part of a loan agreement with Greece’s so-called troika of international creditors â€" the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.
The latest round of negotiations between Greece and the troika have stalled on a dispute over the capital needs of Greek banks. On Thursday afternoon, the Bank of Greece released the results of stress tests carried out on Greece’s main four lenders, stating that their total capital needs amount to 6.4 billion euros. The troika’s estimate is at least three billion euros more, officials have said.
