National Bank of Greece escapes nationalization

The biggest lender in debt-stricken Greece, the National Bank NGB, has announced that it raised the necessary amount of private capital to avoid nationalization. It secured even more money than required by law.

The National Bank of Greece confirmed Friday that it had raised sufficient money from private investors to meet the country's recapitalization rules.

"The minimum participation of the private sector in capital increase, as set by law, has been achieved," NGB announced in a statement. Greek newspapers reported that the country's biggest lender had raised a total of 1.17 billion euros ($1.56 billion), way above the 800 million euros required to stay private.

NGB is thus the second of the four main Greek lenders to escape nationalization. Earlier in June, Alpha Bank announced that it had attracted enough private investment to avoid coming under state control.