Greece hires Rothschild, Goldman for Proton, TT bank sell-off
28 June 2013, by George Georgiopoulos - Athens (Reuters)

* Rescue fund aims to sell Postbank, Proton by mid-July

* Sale agreed with troika in order meet bailout conditions

* Hires Goldman and Rothschild to advise on sale

* Greek banks Alpha, Eurobank, National seen as bidders

Greece's bank rescue fund has hired Rothschild and Goldman Sachs as advisers on the sale of lenders Proton and Hellenic Postbank (TT), which are most likely to be bought by bigger Greek banks, officials told Reuters on Friday.

TT and Proton, victims of Greece's economic crisis, were split into "good" and "bad" parts and are fully owned by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF), a capital backstop with €50 billion ($65 billion) of bailout money.

Greece agreed with its international lenders - the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank - to sell the two banks by mid-July in order to get more bailout funds.

"Goldman is the sell-side adviser on Hellenic Postbank, Rothschild on Proton," said one of the officials. The two were most likely to be bought by bigger Greek banks - Alpha , National or Eurobank, he said.

A senior Alpha Bank executive told Reuters on Friday Alpha would look into buying TT. "Yes, we are interested in Postbank," he said.

Piraeus Bank has said it will not make any more acquistions in the near future after taking over Societe Generale's and Millenium BCP's Greek units and the local operations of three Cypriot banks.