Bank of Cyprus again rejects Marfin Popular Banks public offer

Bank of Cyprus again rejects Marfin Popular Banks public offer

	Published : Tue, 30 Jan 2007 11:21 By : Agencies Print this Story

ATHENS (AFX) - The Bank of Cyprus board has rejected a public offer from Marfin Popular Bank for a second time.

In a filing to the Cypriot Stock Exchange, The Bank of Cyprus said that, 'Marfin's submitted tender offer is irregular, because it breaches the rules of the stock exchange that regulate public offers, irrespective of which regulatory body is in charge of supervising compliance.'

The announcement was filed upon delivery of the offer prospectus from Marfin Popular Bank, under which it is offering 1.241 of its own shares for every Bank of Cyprus share.

The Bank of Cyprus board added that, 'the offer cannot be taken seriously and is not in the best interest of shareholders, while also entailing high risk.'

Recently, the Supreme Court of Cyprus struck down a decision by the Cypriot Capital Market Commission that Marfin had to cease its public bids for Bank of Cyprus and Bank of Piraeus because they obstructed Piraeuss bid for Marfin.

The decision by the Supreme Court ruled the Cypriot Stock Exchange was the body charged with deciding on public offers, and it must decide on the issue of the concurrent offers anew. This court decision led Marfin to submit its public offer for Bank of Cyprus to the stock exchange.

Meanwhile, the Cypriot Capital Markets Commission said it intends to appeal this decision to the full court of the Supreme Court.

Brokers said that the Cyprus Stock Exchange board will convene today on the issue and it must announce its decision within seven days at the latest.

However, if the Cypriot Stock Exchange asks for additional information, Marfin has five days to submit it and a final decision will be expected two days after the submission of the additional information.

Source: Euro2day.gr NewsWire

skrekas@euro2day.gr

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