Wargaming on Tuesday announced the sale of a 13.4 per cent holding in Hellenic Bank to Eurobank for a consideration of €70m.

The company still remains Hellenic Bank’s fourth-largest shareholder, retaining a 6.8 per cent stake in the lender. Prior to this transaction, Wargaming’s investment in Hellenic Bank totalled €127m.

The company took part in the bank’s share capital increase in 2013 amidst the then Cypriot banking and economic crisis, with Hellenic Bank being the only Cypriot bank that adequately covered its private sector capital needs during the crisis without requiring state aid or a haircut on deposits.

Wargaming has participated in all share capital increases of the bank over the past decade. It contributed €40m as part of the first share capital increase in 2013, while it also made another two investments of €63m and €24m, in 2014 and 2019, respectively.

During the past ten years, Hellenic Bank has grown into a bigger and stronger banking and financial institution, an announcement said.

The goal of Wargaming’s investment in Hellenic Bank was to support the Cyprus economy and make the lender more robust – a goal that has been fully achieved.

The announcement added that Christodoulos Hadjistavris will continue to represent Wargaming on Hellenic’s Board of Directors.

Hadjistavris said that Wargaming continues to believe in Hellenic Bank’s future as well as its growth prospects.

“Wargaming sold 13.4 per cent of its shares (out of a total stake of 20.2 per cent) to Eurobank – who is a credible counterparty that can add value to Hellenic – and not to an opportunistic investor,” he explained.