Eurobank-Hellenic: What the new entity may be called and what is changing for the banks’ four insurance companies

The situation regarding the ownership structure is now clearer than ever with Eurobank S.A. being the main shareholder of Hellenic Bank with a percentage of 93.47%, strategic planning is being implemented for the creation of the new entity that will result from the merger with Eurobank Cyprus, creating what is anticipated to become the largest bank in Cyprus.

Following the completion of the purchase of the shares of Demetra Holdings, Logicom and earlier Cyprus Union of Bank Employees ETYK, Eurobank is preparing to acquire 100% through the public offer that it announced it will submit, and also - if necessary - through the squeeze out right, which it has also announced it intends to exercise.

The public offer is expected to be launched within the next few days, more specifically as soon as the required approval of the document is given by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, something which is estimated not to take a long time.

If within the approximately one month during which the public offer will run, the acquisition of 100% is not achieved - a scenario that, due to the peculiarity that exists regarding the holders of the remaining approximately 6.5%, seems the most likely - then Eurobank will proceed with the squeeze out, thus acquiring the entire share capital of Hellenic Bank.

Something that is worth remembering is that speaking at the recent 12th Banking Forum & FinTech Expo, Hellenic Bank CEO, Michael Louis, stated that this would happen by the end of next May.

The unification process

In anticipation of the above, the paper exercises against the backdrop of the upcoming unification of the two banks have already begun and are in full swing, with InBusinessNews sources placing the completion of the first phase of the entire process, namely the legal merger, from which the new organisation will essentially emerge, by next September.

The next stage will be the integration process, that is, the co-location of the customers of the two banks under the new entity.

This is, as InBusinessNews has been duly informed, is a clearly larger and more complex undertaking than the legal merger, which at this stage has entered the planning stage and will be carried out with careful steps, without it currently being possible to determine exactly how long this will take to complete.

The name of the new entity

At the same time, however, and with any changes in the organisational chart and administrative structure (which, given the new structure, will obviously occur) reasonably placed after the completion of the legal merger, the question is the commercial name under which the consolidated bank will operate, whether it will be called Eurobank, Hellenic or something else.

As InBusinessNews has been informed in this regard, no decision has been made so far, nor has any process of selecting a name begun.

This is something - however - that is in fact going to happen in the very near future, possibly taking into account the findings of a possible investigation that may be conducted for this purpose.

The group's insurance companies

In the meantime, the rebranding of the group's four current insurance companies, two general and two life insurance, must also be considered a given. That is, Pancyprian Insurance and Hellenic Life, which Hellenic owned, and CNP Insurance and CNP Cyprialife, which the group recently acquired.

What will essentially happen will be the creation of two brands with new or differentiated names, namely a general insurance company (the merger of Pancyprian and CNP Insurance) and a life insurance company (the merger of Hellenic Life and CNP Cyprialife).

Of course, in order to select the names of the insurance companies, as was reasonably suggested to InBusinessNews, the name of the consolidated bank must first be selected and locked in, as the organisation to which they will belong.

It is recalled that last year Hellenic Bank reached an agreement with the French CNP ASSURANCES for the acquisition of the Cypriot insurance group CNP Cyprus and its companies CNP Insurance and CNP Cyprialife.

The completion of the acquisition process is expected to create the largest insurance group in Cyprus, as it will hold the largest market shares in both insurance sectors.

It is noted in this regard that according to the published data for 2023, the market shares for the companies of the two groups were:

• For the life sector 28.2%, (CNP CYPRIALIFE 22.6% and Hellenic Life 5.6%), and
• for the general sector 23.2%, (CNP INSURANCE 14.6% and Pancyprian 8.6%).

(Source:InBusinessNews)