Lone Star makes €700 mln offer for Bank of Cyprus
US fund Lone Star’s roughly 700-million-euro offer for Bank of Cyprus shows that the sector in Europe may have reached the point where, when prices are low enough, the numbers can work.
The US fund’s interest marks a sharp turnaround in fortunes for BoC, which was bailed out in 2013 amid the eurozone debt crisis and had to inflict losses on some depositors.
Chief Executive Panicos Nicolaou churned out a respectable 7.3% return on tangible equity in the first half of 2022, excluding one-off charges.
That helps explain why the bank has rebuffed three offers from Lone Star, the last of which valued it at almost 0.4 times tangible equity.
The buyout group is considering whether to make a further bid and has until September 30 to do so. [Reuters]
