National Bank: The HFSF decides tomorrow on the share allocation rate

Less than a month is left for his second phase of divestment (TSI) from , which will now be done with a full investment grade for the country, after the upgrading of Greece and by Moody’s last Friday (13.9.2024). The Board of Directors of the HFSF is reportedly expected to meet tomorrow to give guidance to the consultant, JP Morgan, on the share allocation rate. The percentage of EIB shares with which the EFSF is left amounts to 18.39% and the consultant has even proposed its full disposal, given the identified strong investment interest. So far, the scenario is that the EFSI will allocate 10% of the EIB’s shares, covering the excess demand with an additional 3%, so that under the control of the State it will remain 5% – 8%, which will be transferred to the superfund, for the future to a potential strategic investor. It is noted that the decision taken is the National not to participate in the process by triggering the possibility of repurchasing its shares. The strong investment interest is predescribed for the EIB’s positioning expected within the first 10 days of October, as the Bank has an extremely attractive growth story to present. It is recalled that in the first phase of the divestment of the HFSF last November, demand for EIB shares was explosive and the HFSF decided to increase the disposal rate from 20% to 22%. The offers submitted during the three-day book building amounted to 8.1 billion euros, for shares worth 1 billion euros, while the disposal price was 5.30 euros/share. Overcovering had no precedent in Europe and for the lowest discount that had also occurred in Europe in 2023. The discount was 2.5%, while the EIB and book building coordinators did not expect a discount below 7%. In addition to the very low discount, as a result of the strong demand for shares of the National Bank was also the proportionately low satisfaction of the investors selected for the offered shares, compared to the requested amount of shares. With the first placement, in the top ten of long-term international investors entering the National Bank’s stock register were investors such as: Fidelity, BlackRock, Capital, Norges, Lazard, Allianz, GIC, Wellington, RWC and Robeco.