Fokion Karavias: Eurobank-Hellenic Bank merger remains ultimate goal

The merger of Eurobank and Hellenic Bank remains the ultimate goal, Fokion Karavias, CEO of Eurobank Holdings, said at a press conference where he presented the group's results for the first half of 2024, noting that the timeline for achieving this goal does not depend solely on Eurobank, but also on the minority shareholders.

The acquisition of Hellenic Bank's share capital was at the centre of the discussion of Eurobank's financial results. Following the completion of the mandatory tender offer to acquire up to 100% of the issued share capital of Hellenic Bank, Eurobank's total direct stake amounts to 55.886%.

"We became majority shareholder in Hellenic Bank with 55.9% stake, paving the way for full consolidation, which will create a regional banking group with €100bn balance sheet", Eurobank's CEO said at his presentation.

Asked about what the next steps will be regarding Hellenic Bank, he said that "having completed the mandatory tender offer and having secured a majority shareholding, the next step is the board of directors, which is going to be elected by the next shareholders meeting to appoint the new management." He added that in the foreseeable future, the two banks will operate as separate entities. "This is fine as their business models are quite complementary", he said.

Answering to a question regarding the synergies planned with Hellenic Bank, Karavias said that this is something they will begin planning as soon as the new management is in place. He noted that synergies are possible to various fields, like higher net interest income through higher loan balances, synergies in term of fees and commission income, noting the opportunity through the integration of CNP, operational expenses rationalisation and reducing the MREL related cost of Hellenic Bank. However, he noted that a full business plan for Hellenic Bank will be presented in the full-year 2024 financial results, and will be also included in the 2025-2027 group business plan. "We will give quantitative targets about the realisation of synergies", he said.

Asked regarding Eurobank's plans to acquire further share capital in Hellenic, he noted that "the merger of Eurobank and Hellenic Bank remains the ultimate target, we are confident that this will happen with time. However, the exact timeline does not depend only on us, but on the minority shareholders as well".