Following approval last week by the respective Central Banks of Greece and Romania, ATE Bank finalized this week its transaction and paid over the agreed price to 335 shareholders representing 55.82% of Mindbank. A further 26 shareholders representing 0.76% have ratified the agreement and will be paid early next week bringing the total percentage of ATE BANK to nearly 57%.

Having assumed control, ATE Bank intends to proceed quickly with an increase in share capital, the reorganization of Mindbank Bank, establish state-of-the art systems and to expand rapidly its 12-branch network, aiming to triple its present market share in the next 3 years, in the growing and promising Romanian banking market, in view also of the planned accession of the country to the E.U. in 2007.

This is the first transaction of ATE Bank outside Greece, as part of its strategy to establish a substantial presence in the Balkan region, capitalizing on its particular experience in the distribution of E.U. subsidies, in the serving of small and medium sized enterprises, but also in offering modern and attractive retail banking products. The financial advisors of ATE BANK in this first acquisition in the Romanian market, were Deloitte Greece, assisted by Deloitte Romania, the law firm Reff & Associates and Capital Partners (Romania).