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Spanish CaixaBank launches bid for Portugal's BPI

Xinhua, February 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Spain's CaixaBank has announced it will launch a bid for Portugal's BPI bank, according to local media reports on Wednesday.

CaixaBank, which was already BPI's largest investor, is offering 1.329 euros (1.51 U.S. dollars) per share for the 55.9 percent of the bank it doesn't own. The cash offer totals around 1.08 billion euros.

BPI's shares rose 27 percent after CaixaBank revealed its bid.

CaixaBank is the third biggest Spanish bank in terms of market value, behind Santander and BBVA.

Since 2010, the Barcelona-based bank has bought five banks: Caixa Girona, Bankpyme, Banca Civica, Banco de Valencia and Barclays Spain.

According to Spanish newspaper El Pais, which quotes sources close to the bank, the chairman of CaixaBank Isidro Faine intends to strengthen the bank's capital.

CaixaBank also plans to go ahead with a bid for Novo Banco, the Portuguese bank that emerged from the breakup of the beleaguered Banco Espirito Santo last August. Endit