Sept 27 (Reuters) - Piraeus Bank SA, Greece'ssecond-largest bank, is planning to list unit Geniki Bank on thestock exchange in the next six months, the Financial Timesreported on Thursday, citing people briefed on the plan.
Piraeus has hired Deutsche Bank AG and BarclaysPLC to advise on the listing, which could raise about200 million euros ($270 million) to 300 million euros, thenewspaper reported. ()
Piraeus will try to retain 10 percent to 20 percent ofGeniki for the time being, the FT said.
Piraeus bought the smaller lender from France's SocieteGenerale last year.
It said this month that 12 percent of its workforce hadsigned up for voluntary redundancy, as it tries to reduce costsfollowing recent acquisitions.
Piraeus was profitable in the first half of this year thanksto one-off gains on the book value of its Cypriot bankingoperations, which camouflaged the effect of bad loans broughtabout by recession in Greece.
The bank was not immediately available for comment. DeutscheBank and Barclays could not be reached outside regular businesshours.