ATHENS: Piraeus Bank, one of Greece's four largest lenders, on Tuesday reported a loss in 2020 and said it plans a capital boost of about 1.0 billion euros via a non-preemptive share offering which will cut its main shareholder's 61.3% stake to a non-blocking minority.

The bank also said it signed a deal with global investor Christofferson Robb & Co for synthetic securitisation of performing small business and corporate loans and may proceed to issue a Tier-2 bond to raise up to 600 million euros.

The bank said it also signed a binding agreement to sell its merchant acquiring unit to Euronet Worlwide for 300 mln euros.

Piraeus posted a net 2020 loss from continued operations of 652 mln euros for full-year 2020 versus a profit of 270 mln euros in 2019.