Piraeus Financial, one of Greece's four largest banks, announced on Thursday that it is in exclusive talks with CVC Capital Partners to acquire a 70% stake in Ethniki Insurance for €469 million.
The bank said in a stock exchange filing that it has agreed to proceed with exclusive discussions regarding the potential acquisition. The deal would see Piraeus acquire a majority stake in Greece's second-largest insurer.
Piraeus CEO Christos Megalou stated earlier this week that the acquisition would help the bank increase fee revenues to 30% from about 20%.
CVC, which manages assets worth €191 billion, acquired a 90% stake in Ethniki from National Bank in 2021.
Greek banks are returning to normal activities after three recapitalizations that led to their nationalization following the country's financial meltdown in late 2009.
Having reduced bad loan ratios and returned to profitability, Greek banks received European Central Bank approval last year to resume dividend payments for the first time in 16 years.
Piraeus, which was fully privatized last year, expects net profit of €1 billion for 2024 and plans to return 35% of its profit to shareholders.
The bank has hired UBS as a financial advisor and Milliman as an actuarial consultant for the Ethniki transaction.