STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 5 February 2013

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13. Greece's banks struggle to attract private investors

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2013/0204/1224329604550.html

Greece’s banks have begun lobbying the bodies behind the country’s bailout in a bid to ease the conditions imposed on their recapitalisation and avoid full nationalisation.

Under the terms of Greece’s €172 billion international bailout – backed by the European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – €27 billion is to be injected into the big four lenders, with a further €2.5 billion to be supplied by private sector investors. But it is proving difficult to attract that private sector money, given a tight April deadline and equity valuations seen as unrealistic by some analysts.

The big four banks together hold negative equity of about €8 billion. “New investors aren’t willing to pay for yesterday’s losses,” said Nikos Karamouzis, deputy chief executive at Eurobank.

“If you want to attract private capital, you have to re-examine the terms.”