The Board of Directors of Attica Bank is meeting today in order to approve the new business and capital plan that management will submit to the Bank of Greece by tomorrow at the latest. Sources with knowledge of the matter tell Business Daily that the plans to be submitted will include estimates of fresh capital needs, as precise calculations of the bank's capital needs will be provided by DBRS by August 10.
The same sources underline, in fact, "the amount that will be required in additional funds will be decided by the bank and not by the shareholders", referring to the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund which is also the majority shareholder with a 68.2% stake. In any case, the Bank of Greece is the one that will validate the estimates and plans of Attica Bank's management. Market estimates, however, are that the securitizations of the NPLs in the non-systemic bank's portfolio create capital needs much greater than the 365 million euros foreseen in the original shareholders' agreement. Therefore, together with the plans, the new shareholder agreement will be submitted to the central bank, which will also describe the participation of shareholders (HFSF, Ellington and TMEDE) in the capital hike.
Regarding reservations that are occasionally raised about the ability of the strategic investor, Ellington to contribute to capital needs, market sources refer to the recent offer made by the fund on acquiring the “Ariadni” NPLs package of PQH, which amounted close to 700 million euros. Depending on its participation rate, Ellington can increase its share, correspondingly reducing the participation of the HFSF. Significant management changes are expected at the bank after the summer, with the main one being the replacement of the interim managing director, Michalis Andreadis. A search process for suitable candidates is already underway and is expected to soon bear fruit.
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