“In response to media reports regarding holdings of Bank of Cyprus group by funds managed by WL Ross & Co. LLC and Wilbur Ross’s role as the Vice-Chairman of Bank of Cyprus Group should he be confirmed as the Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce, WL Ross & Co. LLC confirms that Mr. Ross’ confirmation will not impact the funds’ shareholdings in the Bank,” the company said in a statement.

“WL Ross & Co. will remain actively involved with the Bank and is in discussions with the Bank regarding Wilbur Ross’ replacement on the Board should he be confirmed,” it added.

Ross is the founder of WL Ross & Co, a private equity firm, which as a 1.6% stake in BoC.

“WL Ross & Co. is pleased with the progress that Bank of Cyprus’ management team is making regarding the execution of its strategy and looks forward to continuing to work together.”

On Wednesday all of the shares comprising the issued share capital of the Bank were cancelled and BoC issued and allotted 8,922,944,533 new ordinary shares of nominal value €0.10 each, credited as fully paid to Bank of Cyprus Holdings Public Limited Company (‘BOC Holdings’).

Source: InCyprus