French bank Credit Agricole (CA) said yesterday it would keep the terms of its offer for Emporiki Bank unchanged despite a rival bid from Bank of Cyprus (BoC). CA said its bid had been extended to Aug. 7. “All the other terms and conditions regarding Credit Agricole’s public offer remain the same,” CA said in a stock filing to the Athens bourse. France’s biggest retail bank is offering 23.50 euros a share in cash for Emporiki, valuing Greece’s fourth-largest lender at 3.1 billion euros. Bank of Cyprus, the biggest lender on the island, is offering 3.25 of its own shares plus 6 euros in cash for every Emporiki share. Based on yesterday’s closing price, the BoC bid comes to 29.7 euros per share. On Wednesday, Greece’s Capital Market Commission said Emporiki shareholders will have until Aug. 7 to decide whether to accept Credit Agricole’s or BoC’s offer. It has set a July 25 deadline for any other counteroffers. (Reuters)

National Bank, said yesterday its 3-billion-euro issue of new shares to finance the buyout of Turkish Finansbank was oversubscribed by 1.75 times. Subscriptions for National Bank’s capital increase, the largest in the Athens Stock Exchange’s history, ended on Wednesday. The group issued a total of 135,707,764 new shares at 22.1 euros each, four-for-10. NBG said in a stock market filing the share issue was oversubscribed with investors offering a total of 5.24 billion euros, meaning it did not need to privately place any leftover shares. Its new outstanding share total will be 474,977,176. In April, National Bank agreed to buy 46 percent of mid-sized Finansbank for 2.3 billion euros, eyeing growth opportunities in Turkey. NBG did not say when the new shares will be listed and start trading. (Reuters)

Lottery company Intralot said it will issue a five-year bond of up to 70 million euros ($89.42 million) to refinance existing debt. Emporiki Bank will underwrite the bond, Intralot, the world’s third-largest gaming systems operator by sales, said in a stock market filing. (Reuters)

Ferry operator Blue Star Ferries said it acquired the assets of competitor Dane Sea Line for 19.9 million euros. Dane’s assets, which Blue Star acquired at an auction on the island of Rhodes, include three ferries as well as real estate in the island’s capital. The transaction “is in line with the company’s policy of strengthening its presence in the Greek domestic market routes,” Blue Star said in a statement. (Reuters)

The Finance Ministry asked tax authorities to complete immediately all crosschecking of data on pleasure boats and revenues from rents of past years by April 2007 at the latest. Checks will be made with naval registers and with lodgers’ records respectively.