This post first appeared on FloatingPath
Yes, apparently the situation for the Cypriot economy is just as bad (or worse) than most thought as the Hellenic Bank just received a 40 million euro investment from online video game creator Wargaming.net.
The investment makes Wargaming one of the banks biggest shareholders with an equity position now worth about 30% of the nation’s second largest financial institution.
Since the banking fiasco in Cyprus, many large depositors who had their assets frozen were forced to make equity investments in their institutions in order to have a chance at releasing their funds. Similar moves have been made by Russian businessmen in the last few months according to Bloomberg.
Vedomosti, a Russian business publication, reported the gamemaker probably had funds in the bank that got frozen and needed to buy into the bank to be able to withdraw them.
The game maker has expressed “uncertainties” regarding the situation in Cyprus, the company said in its annual report. That’s probably an understatement.
