Reuters: Deals: Greece's Alpha Bank to pull out of Eurobank merger plan

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Greece's Alpha Bank to pull out of Eurobank merger plan Mar 14th 2012, 09:22 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Greek debt swap could be short-lived reprieve Mon, Mar 12 2012 Greece averts immediate default, markets skeptical Fri, Mar 9 2012 Massive take-up of Greece bond swap offer Thu, Mar 8 2012 Greek bond swap prospects lifted by fresh pledges Wed, Mar 7 2012 Athens, creditor group turn up heat on Greek bondholders Tue, Mar 6 2012 Analysis & Opinion Like Greece, but better? Euro zone first default gives few reasons to cheer Related Topics Deals » Global Deals Review: 2011 Q3 » Global Deals Review: 2011 Q2 » Global Deals Review » Inflows Outflows » Greece » Commuters make their way in front of an Alpha bank branch in Athens September 23, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Yiorgos Karahalis ATHENS | Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:22am EDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's Alpha Bank (ACBr.AT) will propose pulling out of a planned merger with Eurobank (EFGr.AT) because of the impact of the country's bond swap deal on the banks, the lender said on Wednesday. On November15, the shareholders of both banks had approved the merger of the two lenders to create the country's largest bank which would be better able cope with the debt crisis, which has caused deposit outflows and rising bad loans. But the debt swap deal between Greece and its private sector creditors, which was completed last week, caused much bigger losses to banks than expected when the merger was originally agreed. "Alpha Bank's board will call a general shareholders' assembly where it will propose the revocation of the merger decision that shareholders took on November 15," a spokesman at the bank said. Another Alpha Bank official said the board meeting would take place on March 27. Alpha Bank's exposure to Greek government bonds is about half that of Eurobank's. Alpha shares were up 5.63 percent at 0851 GMT and Eurobank shares were up 5 percent, with analysts saying Alpha's move could pave the way for other mergers. An official at Eurobank said the lender believed the merger would have been beneficial. "We believed the deal made sense and had serious synergies but if Alpha does not want it, you can't have a forced marriage," the official said on condition of anonymity. (Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Writing by Ingrid Melander. Editing by Jane Merriman) Global Deals Review: 2011 Q3 Global Deals Review: 2011 Q2 Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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