Shareholders at Alpha Bank approved with a strong majority, exceeding 80 percent, the lender’s increase in share capital of up to 800 million euros.
At the Extraordinary General Meeting, quorum exceeded 57 percent, with the vast majority of shareholders supporting management’s plan for the capital boost.
As decided by the general meeting, "all existing shareholders, regardless of whether they participated in the General Meeting or not, will be able to participate in the Share Capital Increase by ensuring, if they wish, a percentage of new shares equal to the one they hold at the record date.”
"In the new environment of positive expectations, we want our bank to play a leading role, so that we can reward our shareholders for the trust they have shown us all these years and to contribute to the development of the Greek economy," said chairman Vassilis Rapanos.
For his part, CEO Vassilis Psaltis, stressed that "the share capital Increase will support our bank so that it can grow and achieve double-digit levels of profitability", a development that "will lead to improved organic capital production for our already strong balance sheet, supporting the bank's ability to distribute dividends ".
Right to participate
According to the decisions of the Extraordinary General Meeting, the completion of the share capital hike is expected by the end of this month. The approval of the prospectus is expected on June 25, while the registration date of existing shareholders, in order to have the right to priority distribution of the new shares, will be announced soon.
It is reminded that, according to the decisions of the general meeting, all the existing shareholders, regardless of whether they participated in the general meeting or not, will be able to participate in the rights issue by ensuring, if they wish, a percentage of new shares equal to the one they hold.
Recovery Fund a great opportunity
As Alpha Bank officials recently noted, the Recovery Fund and the resources that will be channeled into Greece create a unique opportunity for the Greek banking system to increase its assets again, through a significant increase in loans and to boost revenues and profitability. "Essentially we can replace non-performing loans, which will soon be off our balance sheet, with new non-performing, healthy loans," they said.
It is estimated that business loans will increase by 24 billion euros during the period 2021 - 2026. According to the project Tomorrow of Alpha Bank, the return on equity from being marginally negative in 2020 will rise to about 7 percent in 2022, to 9 percent in 2023 and to 10 percent in 2024, paving the way for dividend distribution from the fiscal year 2023 onwards.
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