National Bank of Greece, Healthy Enough for M&A (NBG)

Banking, finance, and taxes

Published: February 18, 2011 10:51 am

Last Updated: April 28, 2020 2:17 am

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) is doing something odd. It is trying to make an acquisition. It was not that long ago that there were serious worries about NBG’s future. Now, NBG has made a friendly stock-for-stock offer to local Alpha Bank to acquire it.

NBG said the terms call for Alpha holders to receive 8 new NBG shares for each 11 outstanding Alpha shares, roughly a 23% gain to yesterday’s close in Athens. The Athens Stock exchange temporarily suspended trading in shares of both banks, but the news in Athens caused a local market rally of almost 3%.

To imagine that NBG is strong enough to acquire another bank might seem like a tough sell. It was just in late-2010 that the PIIGS were trying to recover from a near catastrophe that actually threatened the Eurozone. Shares are up 8.7% at $2.26 and the 52-week range is $1.48 to $4.50, but this was a $10.00 stock in 2008.

JON C. OGG

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