Greek banks are expanding their footprint in the real estate sector, as Alpha Bank announced that it is increasing its stake in the share capital of the real estate investment company Prodea, following 18 months of close cooperation.
According to the announcement, Alpha Bank acquired 12,705,745 shares of Prodea, nearly doubling its stake from 4.90% to 9.87% of the company’s total share capital.
According to Naftemporiki’ sources, the transaction is part of Alpha Bank’s broader strategy to diversify its income sources and to supplement interest income with the goal of improving recurring revenue from other activities.
Bank sources emphasized to Naftemporiki that the bank’s financial objectives include “stable income from high-performing real estate assets.”
According to sources, the investment is probably the beginning of a broader commercial cooperation with the Cypriot Group Yoda Plc, which is also the largest minority shareholder of Prodea. The cooperation aims to expand to the provision of basic banking and investment services, as well as specialized real estate solutions. The group already has a strong presence in the real estate and shipping sectors.
Furthermore, the management sees that this investment diversifies Alpha Bank’s direct real estate investment portfolio and offers exposure to mature, profitable real estate, as well as to real estate categories with strong fundamentals, such as tourism, logistics and green offices.
It is therefore clear that the bank’s management recognizes that there is an opportunity to capitalize on the positive fundamentals of the Greek real estate market to increase the bank’s income and goodwill, while the information from “N” also speaks of the Bank’s plans to enter into similar synergies with other business activities of the Group, such as institutional capital management or private banking.
