ATHENS: Greece’s National Bank, the country’s top lender, said on Wednesday it was not seeking a strategic investor after a media report that Qatar was in talks to buy a 5 to 7 percent stake.
"Press reports that NBG is seeking a strategic investor are not accurate," the bank said.
The Financial Times website said on Tuesday that Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), was in talks about acquiring a strategic stake of 5-7 percent in NBG, worth about 250 million euros ($305.9 million).
The Financial Times report did not say who QIA was in talks with.
NBG reiterated on Wednesday that it was not planning to raise capital.
"National Bank of Greece … does not intend to raise equity capital, including in particular through a share capital increase on a non pre-emptive basis in favour of a new shareholder," NBG said.
On Tuesday night, an Athens-based source close to the issue told Reuters that NBG was not in talks to sell a stake.
Last week, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou urged the country’s lenders to take "strategic regrouping steps" to better cope with the debt crisis and resume funding its ailing economy.
Debt-laden Greece is trying to woo foreign investors and sell some state assets to help plug a huge budget gap and comply with terms of a 110 billion euro ($134.6 billion) bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
NBG shares were up 3.3 percent at 0852 GMT, in line with a broader gain by the Greek banking sector on renewed rumors of restructurings.
