In reply to your letter ref. 19358/06.05.2005, PIRAEUS BANK S.A. comments on the particular articles:
As it has already been announced to the investing public, on February 17, 2005, Piraeus Bank signed an agreement for the acquisition of the private Serbian bank Atlas Bank A.D., based in Belgrade.
This agreement provided for the acquisition to take place through launch of a public tender offer for the acquisition of 80% of the shares of Atlas Bank, listed on the Belgrade Stock Exchange.
After the fulfilment of all normative and other contractual requirements (among which a licence from the Bank of Greece, a licence from the Central Bank of Serbia and approval from the Serbian Capital Market Commission), Piraeus Bank launched on 05.05.2005 a public tender offer to the Belgrade Stock Exchange, in pursuance of the relevant clause of the acquisition agreement, for 80% of the shares of Atlas Bank, against a total offered price of 1,581,023,044.2 Serbian dinar (approx. 19.5 mn Euro). The acquisition will be finalized soon, after the completion of the public tender offer procedure.
The total assets of Atlas Bank are 63 mn Euro, customer deposits amount to 44 mn Euro and total loans to 36 mn Euro. The Bank's after tax profit for 2004 amounted to 1.6 mn Euro and its equity capital to 13.5 mn Euro.
Through this acquisition, Piraeus Bank Group will actively participate in a market where the banking sector has significant growth prospects; in the last years it has been progressing at a very satisfactory pace, while the banking intermediation indices remain at low levels, thus indicating the high growth potential. Through this acquisition, Piraeus Bank Group expands its banking activities in four countries in the region (Bulgaria, Romania, Albania and Serbia) with a network of 110 branches. Piraeus Bank plans to continue its strategic development in Serbia and in the broader Balkan region by expanding its branch network and banking operations.