In statements he made at the Presidential Palace, on Friday, Christodoulides highlighted the credit rating agency's view that the capital increase will improve the bank’s liquidity and its financial position and that it will increase investor confidence and possibly open up other funding prospects.

He noted that that it is “a particularly important announcement” on the part of Moody’s.

Bank of Cyprus announced, on Monday, the successful private placement 4.166.666.667 new ordinary shares at a price per share of €0.24 with total gross proceeds of €1 billion, completing the first phase of its capital raise.

The capital increase of €1 billion, combined with deleveraging actions completed after the first quarter of 2014, are expected to strengthen the Bank’s Common Equity Tier 1 ratio to 15.1% from 10.6% in the first quarter of 2014.

Christodoulides also announced that Minister of Finance Harris Georgiades will begin next week consultations with parliamentary parties on a repossessions bill, approved by Cabinet on Wednesday.

Cyprus’ international lenders collectively known as the Troika (EC, ECB, IMF) have said that the bill should be adopted by the House of Representatives for the country to receive its next bailout tranche, a decision which will be taken by Eurogroup in September.

Source: Famagusta Gazette