ECONOMY

NBG told to make new offer in Turkey

Turkey’s Capital Markets Board said yesterday it has asked National Bank of Greece (NBG) to set a new price in a tender offer to minority shareholders in Turkish leasing company Finans Finansal Kiralama. A Turkish court canceled the tender offer at the end of last month, ruling that the price was too low. The markets board made the call in its weekly bulletin. National Bank of Greece bought a 46 percent stake in the leasing company’s parent, Finansbank, in 2006 for $2.774 billion, prompting a compulsory tender call to Finansbank’s subsidiaries and the price was 3.97 lira per share for Finans Finansal Kiralama. A Turkish court last month upheld a case filed by London-based money manager Griffin Capital Management against the Capital Markets Board, which had approved the earlier tender call. Griffin, which owns about 8 percent of Finans Finansal, argued that the call price of 3.97 liras a share was too low. National Bank, Greece’s largest lender, is expected to announce second-quarter earnings on August 28. After being the first Greek bank to enter Turkey, National has said it intends to expand its international presence by further penetrating the Egyptian market. National Bank, along with a number of local rivals, has been expanding into developing markets to offset slowing credit expansion and rising competition in the Greek market. Shares in the bank, which has a market capitalization of almost 15 billion euros, tumbled 3.64 percent yesterday, ending at 30.16 euros.

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