The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund’s (HFSF) placement of its 27% stake in shares of Piraeus Bank exceeded even their most optimistic estimates and attracted a whopping 11 billion euros in offers.

Commenting on the news, the CEO of the HFSF said the placement for international investors was covered on Monday, March 4, just six minutes after the opening of books. He sees it as an expression “market confidence in the prospects of the Greek financial system.”

The placement was important for the Greek state and the Greek banking system, as the HFSF now only has to divest in its remaining stake of the National Bank of Greece.

In a separate announcement the HFSF said that it decided to sell all of its shares in the bank (337,599,150) and set the final price at 4 euros for both international investors and the Greek public offering.

The HFSF had initially set a price range for the sale of shares between 3.70-4.00 euros but reduced the range to 3.90-4.00 and finally settled on 4 euros on account of the great demand.