Bank of Cyprus uses Dublin to launch London listing

Bank of Cyprus, led by Irishman John Hourican, has decided to press ahead with a plan to use Dublin as a base to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange.

The bank registered a holding company in Ireland in July under the name AION Cyprus Plc before changing its identity the following month to Bank of Cyprus Holdings plc as it explored various routes to secure a London listing. Cyprus is not an eligible jurisdiction for a premium listing and inclusion on the FTSE UK index series.

Bank of Cyprus said on Tuesday that it had decided to use the Irish company as the structure through which it would apply for a listing on the London bourse. It plans to continue to be listed in Cyprus but withdraw from the Athens Exchange. Its headquarters, management and operations will remain in Cyprus.

System

“Ireland is a FTSE eligible euro zone country, has a common law legal system similar to that of Cyprus and is a commonly adopted jurisdiction for companies wishing to apply for a listing on the LSE,” the bank said in a statement.

“It is intended that the new holding company will own all of the existing shares of the bank, and existing shareholders of the bank will receive shares in the new holding company in proportion to their current ownership.”

The plan will need shareholder approval as well as the nod from the European Central Bank, Cypriot regulatory authority and local courts.

Mr Hourican outlined plans in March to secure a premium stock listing in London in the second half of this year to win new investors, three years after the bank was partly recapitalised, amid Cyprus’s financial crisis, through a “bail-in” of unsecured depositors.

Capital

The bank successfully raised €1 billion of private capital in 2014 from investors, including US billionaire Wilbur Ross, who made €500 million profit buying a stake in Bank of Ireland during the financial crisis and subsequently selling.

Mr Hourican, a former head of Royal Bank of Scotland’s investment banking arm, joined Bank of Cyprus in 2013 before handing in his notice two years later. However, he subsequently reversed that decision, signing a fresh two-year contract in late 2015 to remain at the helm.