, Columnist
Survival of the Brokest in Cyprus Bailout
Just when it looked like the banking crisis in Cyprus
couldn't get any weirder, here's another odd twist: The broke are buying the
broke.
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Just when it looked like the banking crisis in Cyprus couldn't get any weirder, here's another odd twist: The broke are buying the brokest.
Last week Athens-based Piraeus Bank SA said it would pay 524 million euros ($673 million) to buy the Greek branches of Bank of Cyprus Pcl, Cyprus Popular Bank Pcl and Hellenic Bank Pcl, including all of their loans and deposits. Two days later, Piraeus released its own financial results, which showed the company had a shareholder deficit of 2.3 billion euros.