Takis Arapoglou: The four "pluses" from the reintroduction of Bank of Cyprus to the Athens Stock Exchange

Increasing the bank's visibility to a broader range of institutional and retail investors, easier comparison with the big four Greek banks, greater access to capital from investors active on the Athens Stock Exchange and - over time - the possibility of becoming eligible for inclusion in additional share indices, are the four "pluses" that the chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank of Cyprus Takis Arapoglou has proposed before the Bank's shareholders during an extraordinary general meeting.

The extraordinary general assembly was convened on 13 September in order for shareholders to vote on whether to approve the decision taken by the Board of Directors last August for the return of the Bank of Cyprus to the Athens Stock Exchange and its simultaneous withdrawal from the London Stock Exchange.

In his speech, Arapoglou indicated that the liquidity of Bank of Cyprus shares, although gradually improving in recent months, remains low, limiting the expansion of its investment base.

Characterising as clear the fact that the listing of the bank on the London Stock Exchange played a decisive role in order to gain international visibility and credibility during its transformation, Takis Arapoglou expressed the conviction of the Board of Directors that the delisting from the London Stock Exchange and the reintroduction of the bank's shares to the Athens Stock Exchange provides the opportunity to enhance the liquidity of our shares and the recognition of the group among a wider group of interested investors for the benefit of the shareholders and the bank itself.

"The Board of Directors of the Bank of Cyprus", he concluded, "strongly recommends the delisting of the share from the London Stock Exchange and its listing on the Athens Stock Exchange and recommends that the shareholders vote in favor of both resolutions at this extraordinary general meeting".

Read the full statement of the Chairman of the Board of Directors the Bank of Cyprus made during the extraordinary general meeting:

Dear Shareholders, Good morning and thank you for joining us today at our Extraordinary General Meefing.

As all of you know, we have now completed the transformafion of the Bank of Cyprus into a strong bank with a high-quality balance sheet, ample capital and liquidity, and sustainable recurring profitability. This has allowed us to reward our shareholders with a return to dividends, a share buyback programme and a dividend policy, which is both ambifious and sustainable.

As a result, ourshare price hasrisen significantly in the past few years, not only because of the high interest rates, as many believe, but also in recognifion of the Bank’s successful transformafion, its strong performance, its pursuit of ambifious targets, and our ability to deliver shareholder value. Yet, despite this, the liquidity of our shares, although gradually improving in the past few months, remains low restricfing the broadening of our investor base.

Clearly our lisfing on the London Stock Exchange played a crifical role in providing the Bank with internafional visibility and credibility during the transformafion. However, the Board of Directors believesthat delisfing from the LSE and re-lisfing ourshares on the Athens Stock Exchange has the potenfial to enhance the liquidity of our shares and the Group’s market visibility among a broader group of relevant 2/2 investors for the benefit of shareholders and BoC.

We will confinue to maintain our lisfing on the Cyprus Stock Exchange. This belief is a result of a holisfic assessment conducted in detailed consultafion with our key investors, stock analysts and brokers. Re-lisfing our shares on the Athens Stock Exchange is the next step in our journey to enhance further the Bank’s profile.

It builds on the significant efforts we have made to engage with investors and analystsin recent years in order to develop the Bank’s visibility.

The Investor Update Event in June 2023 and regularly updated targets are just two examples. The re-lisfing would mark a return of BoC to the Athens Stock Exchange, where we were previously listed before 2017. ATHEX is now a mature European Stock exchange with a growing reputafion in line with the solid economic growth in Greece and our lisfing there is expected to:

• increase awareness of BoC among a broader range of insfitufional and retail investors;
• allow easier comparison with the big four Greek banks which we consider as our closest peers;
• provide greater access to capital from investors who are acfive on ATHEX, and;
• over fime, enable BoC to become eligible for inclusion in addifional equity indices.

The BoC BoD strongly recommends delisfing from the London Stock Exchange and lisfing on ATHEX and recommendsthatshareholders vote in favour of both resolufions at this EGM. Thank you for considering this proposal.

We look forward to answering any quesfions you may have

(Source: InBusinessNews)