This move will change the shareholding structure of the bank that recently attracted a €100 mln injection from strategic investors. The conversion of the CCS1 raises the bank’s share capital to 3.55 bln shares of nominal value 1c each, with the Church of Cyprus participating in the capital increase to regain its strong footing.

Formerly commanding a 25% stake, the Church stake was diluted to just below 5% in December, when New York-based hedge fund Third Point, the web-based games developer Wargaming.net and local fund manager Demetra Investment pumped €100 mln and took 75% of the shares. After the conversion of its CCS1, the Church has increased its stake from 4.42% to 7.1%, according to reports. On the other hand, Third Point and Wargaming have seen their stakes lowered from about 30% each to 22.6% each, while Demetra has also diluted its stake from 15% to 11.4%.

Following the €86 mln raised from this conversion, the bank’s core tier 1 ratio is expected to stabilise at 9.3%. The bank says it has a further €168 mln worth of CCS1 ready to be converted if deemed necessary to support its capital base. It added that “due to the conversion, the listed number of the Convertible Capital Securities trading in the CSE under the codes HBCS1 / ΕΤΜΑ1 will be reduced to 40.508.360 of €1.00 each.”

Source: Financial Mirror