While discussions are ongoing, sources suggest that as of Sunday night, no definitive agreement had been reached—one solid enough to be presented to Piraeus Bank’s Board of Directors as an official proposal to CVC. Before any offer can move forward, it must first secure the board’s approval, a necessary step before engaging the investment firm in formal terms.
What is certain, however, is that CVC has already recovered nearly all of its initial investment in Ethniki Insurance, setting the stage for a highly profitable exit. When the private equity firm acquired the insurer from National Bank of Greece (NBG) in 2021, it had initially agreed to pay €454.5 million.
However, only €235 million of that amount has been disbursed so far. Since then, CVC has recouped €133 million in profit distributions from previous years, along with an additional €48 million from the sale of Ethniki Insurance’s flagship property in Athens’ Korai Square to Greek real estate developer Dimand.
A further €25-30 million is estimated to have come from the recent sale of Garanta Asigurari, the insurer’s Romanian subsidiary, to German firm SIGNAL IDUNA. The Romanian Competition Authority is expected to approve the transaction in the coming days.
With CVC’s total recoveries now approaching €200 million, the firm has already reclaimed 85% of the capital it put into the deal. If market valuations suggesting Ethniki Insurance is now worth over €500 million prove accurate, CVC stands to make a significant profit from the sale.
All eyes will soon turn to the key players behind these substantial profits—the architects who brought CVC into Ethniki Insurance, those who structured the lucrative «fillet» agreement with National Bank of Greece, the strategists who meticulously planned the «asset stripping» of the insurer, and ultimately, those who will play a role in executing the fund’s highly profitable exit strategy.
