Cyprus and Lebanon signed maritime deal, paving way for possible energy exploration

Macro/Political:

• The Greek PDMA announced that during the 26W T-Bills auction of EUR 500mn which took place yesterday, the total bids reached EUR 921mn and the amount finally accepted was EUR 600mn at a uniform yield of 1.78% (vs 1.76% in the previous 26W T-Bills auction in October 2025).
  Source: pdma.gr

• The European Commission disbursed a payment of EUR 2.1bn from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) to Greece, following the positive assessment of the 6th payment request for the Facility’s grants, which had been submitted in mid-July. With the new payment, Greece has now received EUR 23.4bn from the RRF, an amount corresponding to 65.2% of the total budget of the national plan “Greece 2.0”. The payment request concerned the completion of 39 milestones and targets of the national plan, bringing the total number of fulfilled milestones to 178 (48% of all milestones), while the equivalent average rate of achievement among the 27 EU member states stands at 43%.

Markets:

• Intralot’s Net Income 9M25 After Tax and Minority Interest (NIATMI) stood at EUR -3.1mn, comparted to a profit of EUR 6.5mn in 9M24.Intralot’s CEO, Roberson Reeeves noted that Intralot’s nine-month results as a standalone company show that it has been on track to deliver its goals for 2025, weathering strong FX headwinds. Similarly, Bally’s International Interactive has been on track with its stated guidance in the same period having delivered around EUR 548mn in revenue with a hefty 43% AEbitda margin for Q3. “Our guidance for full-year 2025, pro forma for the two entities annualized, is expected to be in the area of EUR 1,070mn in revenues and EUR 435mn in adjusted EBITDA, implying a combined margin of 40.65%,” Reeves said. He added that the UK government yesterday revised gaming taxes by increasing the remote gaming duty from 21% to 40% beginning in April 2026. “This was higher than anticipated, but we are going to follow aggressive mitigation scenarios. We still intend to deliver growth in wagers accepted, which, combined with reductions in generosity, reductions in marketing, and accelerated synergies, will limit the impact of the tax increase and will only delay our growth plan by one year.” “We will therefore revise our 2026 EBITDA guidance to the range of EUR 420–440mn. Such tax increases have occurred periodically in our markets and, historically, have led to market consolidation and market share growth for companies like Bally’s, which have higher margins than other peers.”
  Source: athexgroup.gr

• Piraeus Bank announced that it has concluded the acquisition of the total shares (percentage 100%) of the parent company of Ethniki Insurance, from CVC Capital Partners Fund VII and National Bank of Greece. The total consideration paid for the Transaction is EUR 0.6bn in cash. Following the conclusion of the transaction, the total capital ratio of Piraeus Financial Holdings is expected to be circa 19% at end-2025, translating into a Pillar 2 Guidance buffer of circa 300bps.
  Source: athexgroup.gr

• Cyprus and Lebanon have jointly approached the World Bank to conduct a viability study on the creation of an electrical interconnection between the two countries, Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides announced in Beirut following a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, according to a statement from the Cypriot Presidency. During the meeting, the two countries also signed an agreement on the delimitation of their respective Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). President Christodoulides said the agreement:
  Strengthens prospects for energy and infrastructure cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean, and supports the region’s potential to serve as an alternative energy corridor for Europe. It also provides the legal and economic certainty and security needed to attract potential investors.
  Source: Bloomberg

• In November 2025, economic sentiment in Cyprus remained broadly unchanged, as the Economic Sentiment Indicator held almost steady at 104. The decline in business confidence in services was offset by improvements in economic confidence across the remaining sectors and among consumersan alternative energy corridor for Europe. It also provides the legal and economic certainty and security needed to attract potential investors.
  Source: UCY