The European Commission confirmed on Wednesday 15 January that the sale of Piraeus Bank’s Bulgarian subsidiary to Eurobank was in compliance with EU state aid rules.
In November 2015, the Commission approved the State Aid granted by Greece for the restructuring of Eurobank and Piraeus Bank (see EUROPE 11442/16).
Following a sales process in November 2018, Piraeus Bank announced the sale of its Bulgarian subsidiary to Eurobank.
In January 2019, the Commission received a complaint from one of the other unsuccessful bidders, alleging that: - the sale of Piraeus Bank’s Bulgarian subsidiary to Eurobank was in breach of State Aid commitments; - the sale of the Bulgarian subsidiary to Eurobank constituted illegal State Aid, based on alleged Greek State influence in the sales process.
The Commission found that, although Piraeus Bank did indeed sell its Bulgarian subsidiary after the deadline provided for in the commitments, this short delay did not affect the compatibility of the aid granted by Greece for the restructuring of Piraeus Bank in 2015. In addition, the transaction between Piraeus Bank and Eurobank was carried out in compliance with the other commitments made in 2015. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)