Greek Piraeus Bank sells majority stake in Cyprus unit

Greece’s largest lender Piraeus Bank said on Thursday that it had completed the sale of a majority stake in its Cyprus subsidiary to Holding M. Sehnaoui SAL for 3.2 million euros ($3.3 million), reducing its stake to 17.7 percent.

The divestment is part of Piraeus Bank’s EU-approved restructuring plan and will boost its core equity tier-1 capital by about 15 basis points, the bank said.

UBS advised Piraeus on the sale.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.