The National Bank of Greece (NBG) announced on Wednesday that it has terminated talks with China's Gongbao Group for the sale of its subsidiary, Ethniki Hellenic General Insurance SA, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.
The Shanghai-based Gongbao Group, the only bidder of Ethniki, responded by saying in a statement that "this is no doubt a day of darkness".
The Greek lender, in its statement, said that NBG has decided not to proceed with further negotiations with the prospective investor, following the examination and assessment of the various aspects of the binding offer received from Gongbao Group for Ethniki Insurance.
NBG also said it remains committed to explore alternative options for compliance with its commitments under the restructuring plan as agreed with the European Commission's Directorate General for Competition and will inform investors accordingly in due course.
Last March, NBG had announced the termination of the sale of 75-percent stake in the insurance company to EXIN Financial Services Holding B.V. over the latter's "failure to fulfill certain conditions".
In June 2017 the two sides had reached an agreement for the sale of Greece's oldest and largest insurance company for 718 million euros (826.5 million U.S. dollars).
Gongbao was the sole bidder for the purchase of the majority stake in the Greek insurance company in recent months, offering a total of 800 million euros.
"The process of making such a decision, made apparently through merely an impromptu meeting, to abruptly and brutally terminate the discussion with Gongbao is irresponsible, but with ulterior motives," Gongbao said in the statement in response to NBG's announcement.
"Over the past two years, despite EXIN's failure and Fosun's withdrawal in the last minute, we invariably supported NBG and Ethniki Insurance and participated in the sale process as the sole and only bidder until the end, as we considered this project as one of the main cornerstones of the growing relationship between Greece and China," Gongbao said.
"In this connection, we obtained the continuous support from ICBC. This is the first time ever a commercial banking group of China supported a Greece project," Gongbao said in the statement, adding that it reserved the rights to pursue legal action.
