Eurobank not eyeing treasury stock sale-deputy CEO
ATHENS, June 9 (Reuters) - EFG Eurobank (EFGr.AT), Greece's second-largest lender, is not planning to sell treasury stock as prices are still low, its deputy chief executive said on Tuesday.
"We at EFG believe that current market conditions, which are still marked by low prices, are not appropriate for the release of our treasury stock in the market," Nikos Karamouzis told Reuters.
EFG Eurobank treasury stock amounts to about 5 percent of its outstanding shares.
Other Greek banks like National Bank (NBGr.AT) and Piraeus Bank (BOPr.AT) have sold treasury stock recently.
In April, National Bank placed treasury shares with Greek and foreign institutional investors, raising 80 million euros ($111 million). Piraeus last week sold treasury shares equivalent to nearly 4 percent of total stock.
"The bank's strong capital position with a core Tier 1 of 8.6 percent, which is also accompanied by strong internal capital generation in the first quarter, allow us to hold on to our treasury shares," Karamouzis said. (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Dan Lalor) ($1 = 0.7208 euro)
