Is the turnaround complete? Bank of Cyprus announces London listing and paydown of EU emergency lending
The Bank of Cyprus made a huge step on its road to redemption today by announcing its intention to list on the London Stock Exchange.
The lender said that while it would not be raising any equity directly from the float, it hoped that the move would pave the way for it to access international capital markets.
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The listing in London is planned to go live in 2017. It will maintain it’s position on the Cypriot stock market, but will no longer be a member of the Athens exchange.
Only a three years ago, the lender was laden EU emergency funds equivalent to 60 per cent of Cyprus' GDP. Total loans peaked at €11.4bn (£9.1bn) in April 2013 and had been reduced to €2.0bn by August. In its latest announcement, the bank said that funding levels had dropped to €0.8bn.
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Profit before tax at the bank for the first nine months of the year totaled €120m, despite net interest revenues falling by nearly 20 per cent.
“We remain focused on operating as an accelerator for growth in the real Cypriot economy,” said the bank’s chief exec John Hourican, who previously ran Royal Bank of Scotland's market and international banking division.