It is estimated that the major investor John Paulson has raised more than 400-450 million euros from the Athens Stock Exchange in the last month, as he sold his shares in Alpha Bank and reduced his stake in Piraeus Bank by 5 percentage points.
And all this through three pre-agreed packages, as well as some other “hidden” transactions, which passed under the radar of investors.
The sales in Piraeus & Alpha
He made his first move on February 24, when the US investor, who made a name for himself during the 2007 financial crisis by shorting the US mortgage market, decided to sell 35 million shares (2.8%) of Piraeus Bank for 160 million euros.
However, he had previously proceeded to the gradual sale of an additional 2.2% stake, the price of which was never disclosed. As a result, Paulson limited his stake in the bank to 13.6% from 18.6% previously.
On March 4, it was Alpha Bank’s turn, in which the 70-year-old American had maintained a small share from the recapitalizations of 2014, 2015 and 2021. Initially, he sold 57 million shares for 109.1 million euros, while on Thursday he completed the liquidation process, transferring the remaining 53 million shares for 118 million euros.
The sum of the three packages in Piraeus and Alpha Bank amounts to 387 million euros, while taking into account the stock market sales that concerned the “hidden” 2.2% of Piraeus, then the total amount exceeds 400-450 million euros.
What is envisioned for EYDAP?
As for the next day, the market no longer considers unlikely a further reduction in his current participation (13.6%) in Piraeus, while John Paulson, one of the people in Trump’s entourage in the US, seems to be in the process of partially disinvesting from the Greek portfolio, which began to be “built” at the height of the Greek debt crisis.
Of course, the focus is also on the percentage (9.99%) that he holds in EYDAP, for which all scenarios are now open.
