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After the Greek government successfully issued 5-year bonds last week for the first time since the outbreak of the crisis the National Bank of Greece followed its example. The resultant liquidity is worth 750 million euro. Bond yield is 4.5 % and the coupon 4.375%. Thus, the issued bonds of the National Bank of Greece are the first corporate issue with a price lower than that of the government bonds with the same maturity.

The bid reached 2.5 billion euro and Executive Director of the Bank Alexandros Tourkolias is talking about a vote of confidence from the markets to the bank.

Before the opening of the offers, sources from the bank indicated that the interest rate at which the first appearance on the market will take place after about four years would be a "surprise", stressing that it will be at least 50 percentage points lower compared to the 5-year bonds issued a few weeks ago by the Greek state.

Planning the increase

After completing the bond issue, the management of the National Bank will continue its preparations to increase the share capital by 2.5 billion euro, offering new shares especially to investors abroad.

The tenders for foreign investors will be open two days before the general meeting of shareholders scheduled for 10 May.

According to sources, the bank will cater to domestic investors with a second issue in the range of 250 million euro, which will be implemented in the country to cover the demand for the bank’s securities.

Meanwhile, several actions for internal capital accumulation will be taken in the coming days which, based on the restructuring plan drawn up in cooperation with the Bank of Greece, will bring about 1.04 billion euro.

This is about a sale of assets of the bank, the result of which will be evaluated together with the central bank.

According to sources, these actions will be completed by the summer and they do not include the sale of a minority percentage of Finansbank, which has been postponed for a later period.

If all goes well, the National Bank of Greece will raise in a short time capital of around 3.75 billion euro which will be used to cover the requirements of the stress tests to the amount of 2.18 billion euro as well as to repay the preferred shares of the state worth 1.35 billion euro.

The remaining capital will act as a buffer in the event of unexpected situations. Moreover, according to sources, it is conceivable that part of the capital will be used for "small purchases" in Greece.

If all these steps are successful, over the next few months, the National Bank of Greece will be able to raise capital to the amount of 4.5 billion euro, 3.75 billion euro of which will be used to cover the capital requirements and the repayment of the state aid received whereas the remaining 750 million euro will be used to finance the economy.