Piraeus Bank Cyprus to be taken over by Lebanese investors

 A group of Lebanese investors under Lebanese banker Maurise Sehnaoui is to take over Bank of Piraeus Cyprus under a deal announced on Saturday.

The Lebanese group will invest 40 billion euros (44.20 billion U.S. dollars) in return for about 80 percent of the bank's shares.

A statement by the Bank of Piraeus Cyprus, a subsidiary of Greek lender Bank of Piraeus published in accordance with Stock Exchange regulations, said it had agreed to sell to Holding M Sehnaoui SAL (HMS) its shares in a deal under which HMS will increase its capital by 40 million euros.

It added that the participation of the Bank of Piraeus in the lender will be reduced to 17.6 percent.

The statement said the sale is subject to approval by the appropriate authorities of Cyprus, Greece and the European Commission.

Maurise Sehnaoui has been a board member and shareholder of banks in Lebanon, such as BLC Bank and Societe Generale de Banque au Liban.

Bank of Piraeus Greece, the owner of Bank of Piraeus (Cyprus) became prominent in 2013, when it purchased all banking activities of Bank of Cyprus, Cyprus Popular Bank and Hellenic Bank in Greece for a mere 0.524 euro, increasing its assets by 3 billion euros overnight.

The deal was imposed on Cyprus as part of 10 billion euro economic assistance package that pulled the eastern Mediterranean island back from the brink of bankruptcy.