Capital increases amounted to €1.1 billion in the first quarter of 2009, down by more than 20 percent year-on-year. The Greek Bancpost lender reports the highest capital increase, worth €53.5 mln. This is the only capital injection into a bank in the Top 40 investments in March, after the surprising volume of investments in the first two months was supported by massive capital injections in the financial sector. Retail, on the other hand, was the engine in March, with investments of over €30 mln in each of the Real and Kaufland hypermarket chains.
In terms of country of residence, most investments came from Germany in March – at €81 mln, more than one third of the total. Greeks subscribed one fifth of the capital, while the Netherlands, which used to rank first, fell to third place, with only seven percent of the total.
