The start of negotiations with Thrivest Holdings regarding its participation in the increase in the authorized capital of Attica Bank was approved yesterday by the bank’s board of directors, opening, according to an announcement made late last night, the procedure for exchanging information and data with an interested party in connection with its participation in it. The start of discussions follows an expression of interest from Thrivest Holdings (it invested in Pankritia Bank), which was formally filed on 16 January. According to the same statement, Attica Bank will submit to the competent supervisory authorities “a complete new operating plan and capital investment plan for the bank in the context of increasing its capital in the next period of time.”

According to the information, the official start of negotiations with Thrivest, led by entrepreneurs D. Bakosh, G. Kaimenakis and A. Exarchos, will be followed by due diligence to determine the conditions for their participation in the increase in the authorized capital (it was determined at 490 million euros). As Attica Bank said in a statement yesterday, “to date, there have been no proposals or decisions to merge the bank with any financial institution,” referring to Pankritia Bank. However, this is the most likely scenario, the decision on which has not yet been made. In every case, protected information “K” report that the start of negotiations with Thrivest will not lead to a sure replacement for the deal with Ellington, and therefore the terms of the deal are likely to be changed for the better.

What is certain is that Thrivest’s involvement marked the end of Ellington’s streak of involvement with the upcoming AMC. According to “K”, this involvement was closed after the disagreements that existed in terms of restructuring Attica Bank from bad loans. However, this was dictated by successive delays in the submission of the capital investment plan, which was directly related to the amount of funds needed to clear the bank of the €2.6bn red loans. The equation of the maximum possible participation in the authorized capital of the bank with the lowest possible costs, which was the obvious goal, was linked to the use of AMK funds, i.e. what part of the €490 million will go to cover the reserves. The disagreement became a fuse for events that led to a divorce between Ellington and the remaining shareholders, i.e. TXS and TMEDE.