UPDATE: Greece's NBG Boosts Capital Through Debt Buyback
-- NBG bracing for impact of Greek debt restructuring
-- Move follows similar capital boosting plans by other banks
-- Other Greek banks may follow suit
(Rewrites, adds detail, quotes and context throughout.)
By Alkman Granitsas Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES ATHENS (Dow Jones)--National Bank of Greece SA (NBG), the country's leading lender by assets, said Monday it has completed a program to buy back outstanding covered and hybrid securities in an effort to boost its capital base.
NBG said the program--involving the buy-back of its 2016-dated covered bond and five hybrid Tier 1 bonds--would boost its core Tier 1 capital ratio by about EUR302 million. Prior to the transaction, NBG had a core Tier 1 ratio of 11%. Based on the bank's risk-weighted assets in the third quarter last year, the ratio would be lifted by 46 basis points.
The buyback program is the latest in a series of moves by the Greek lender to strengthen its balance sheet ahead of a planned Greek debt restructuring that is expected to lead to billions of euros in losses.
It also follows similar moves by other European lenders over the past year--including banks such as Barclays PLC (BCS), Commerzbank AG (CBK.XE), and BNP Paribas SA (13110.FR)--to buy back outstanding debt instruments at discounted prices in a move to reduce liabilities and shore up their balance sheets.
"With the pressure on banks to raise their capital, we have seen an increase in these types of transactions over the past six to 12 months," said a banker familiar with the deal. "Other Greek banks may also follow."
NBG purchased the covered bond at 70% of face value, and the hybrid bonds at 45%.
Participation rates ranged between 46% and 70% for the hybrid bonds, and 43% for the covered bond.
Greek banks are facing enormous losses from a planned restructuring of Greece's public debt. At the instigation of its European partners, Greece agreed in October that it would negotiate a "voluntary" debt write-down aimed at a 50% cut in the face value of Greek bonds held by the private sector.
In December, the International Monetary Fund estimated Greece's top six lenders will require a total capital boost of up to EUR17 billion to cope with the debt write-down. In addition, the banks are bracing for the results of an external audit by consulting firm Blackrock Solutions that is expected to call for higher provisions to cover bad debts.
Those losses will deal a sharp blow to the banks' capital adequacy, and may drive them to seek government bailouts in order to meet regulatory capital requirements. But at a cost: depending on the size of the bailout, many of the banks fear they will wind up majority-owned by the Greek state.
NBG is facing estimated losses of around EUR3 billion from the debt write-down plan and would need that much to recapitalize in order to meet a 10% core Tier 1 threshold set for Greek lenders by the Bank of Greece.
To minimize the amount of money it would have to seek from the Greek government, NBG has begun implementing a capital plan to cover that gap. Apart from the bond buy back, last month NBG shareholders approved a plan to tap EUR1 billion from an existing, three-year-old government support scheme.
Previously, the bank has said it will sell down a 20% to 25% stake in its Turkish Finansbank unit, which it hopes will raise about EUR1 billion.
The bank has also initiated talks with its employees' union in an effort to cut wage costs, and is mulling plans to sell off a hotel subsidiary in a posh seaside suburb of Athens.
UPDATE: Greece's NBG Boosts Capital Through Debt Buyback - WSJ.com