Greek bank Pancretan cleared for $104 million rights issue

ATHENS - Greek lender Pancretan Bank received shareholder approval on Thursday for a 98.7 million euro ($104.27 million) one-for-one rights issue and a name change to Candia Bank after its merger with small cooperative lender Chania Bank.

Pancretan, which has a network of 54 branches mostly in Crete plus a small presence in Athens and Thessaloniki, will issue 78.96 million new common registered shares at 1.25 euros each.

Before the rights issue the bank will proceed to a 10-for-1 share split, reducing the par value of its shares to 0.50 euros from 5 euros.

($1 = 0.9466 euros)