ATHENS: Greece's National Bank, the country's top lender, said on Wednesday it was not seeking a strategic investor after a media report that Qatar was in talks to buy a 5 to 7 percent stake. "Press reports that NBG is seeking a strategic investor are not accurate," the bank said. The Financial Times website said on Tuesday that Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), was in talks about acquiring a strategic stake of 5-7 percent in NBG, worth about 250 million euros ($305.9 million). The Financial Times report did not say who QIA was in talks with. NBG reiterated on Wednesday that it was not planning to raise capital. "National Bank of Greece ... does not intend to raise equity capital, including in particular through a share capital increase on a non pre-emptive basis in favour of a new shareholder," NBG said. On Tuesday night, an Athens-based source close to the issue told Reuters that NBG was not in talks to sell a stake. Last week, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou urged the country's lenders to take "strategic regrouping steps" to better cope with the debt crisis and resume funding its ailing economy. Debt-laden Greece is trying to woo foreign investors and sell some state assets to help plug a huge budget gap and comply with terms of a 110 billion euro ($134.6 billion) bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF). NBG shares were up 3.3 percent at 0852 GMT, in line with a broader gain by the Greek banking sector on renewed rumors of restructurings.
