Ex-Glencore trader Aristotelis (Telis) Mistakidis has acquired an initial stake in Aegean Baltic Bank (ABBank), a Greek shipping lender he is poised to assume control of.
The billionaire investor has taken a 5% stake in the firm, the majority of which he agreed to buy earlier this year, market sources tell TradeWinds.
The larger transaction, which will see Mistakidis increase his holding to 48% and then to a controlling stake in the wake of a share capital increase, is still on course awaiting regulatory approval.
As TradeWinds already reported, Glencore’s former top copper trader will buy shares from ABB’s founding Afthonidis family and Greek shipowner John Coustas.
The Tsakos family, which currently holds a 24% stake in the bank, is not selling its interest and the Afthonidis family will retain a 28% holding as well.
ABBank continues to bank rising profit amid healthy liquidity levels.
Net income at the Athens-based lender stood at €7.3m ($7.8m) in the first quarter, up 4% year on year.
This is mostly due to better management of overall assets and customer deposits, which rose at an annual pace of about 15% to €1.24bn and €1.07bn, respectively, according to data provided by the company to TradeWinds.
Like other banks, the size of the shipping loan portfolio remains stagnant as cash-rich owners capitalise on the shipping boom to repay a significant portion of their outstanding loans ahead of schedule.
ABBank loan volumes after provisions shrank by 6% quarter on quarter to about €480m as “new production didn’t outweigh early payments/repayments that continued in the first quarter of 2024”, the bank said.
Liquidity levels remained at robust levels, however, with the loan-to-deposits ratio climbing to 50% and the loan-coverage ratio exceeding 490%.
ABBank’s common equity Tier 1 ratio stood at 26.5% and the non-performing-loan ratio at just 0.9%.
