Banco BPI Delays Again Over CaixaBank Voting-Rights Cap -- Update
September 06 2016 - 8:54AM
Dow Jones News
By Patricia Kowsmann
LISBON--A key shareholder vote to lift a 20% voting-rights cap
at Portuguese lender Banco BPI SA--a precondition to a takeover
offer by Spain's CaixaBank SA--was again postponed on Tuesday,
raising further uncertainty over the bank's future.
Following a short shareholder meeting that started at 0900 GMT,
BPI issued a statement saying the voting had been rescheduled for
Sept. 21.
A CaixaBank spokesman said the Spanish bank had sought and
received support from a majority of BPI shareholders to postpone
the vote for 15 days in order to provide enough time to receive a
decision from a Portuguese judge on an investor's temporary court
order.
A previous voting attempt on July 22 was moved to Tuesday after
that investor, Violas Ferreira Financial SA, which owns 2.7% of
BPI, disclosed that it had a temporary court order forbidding the
vote to take place. Violas Ferreira had balked at CaixaBank's
offer, which it considered too low. Angolan businesswoman Isabel
dos Santos, who owns 18.6% of BPI, was also against the
takeover.
CaixaBank, Spain's third-largest lender by market value, owns
45% of BPI and has offered shareholders EUR1.113 ($1.243) a share
for the rest of the bank, valuing it at EUR1.62 billion. Shares of
BPI, Portugal's largest lender by market value, fell 0.8% to
EUR1.076 following the announcement.
The voting-rights cap limits CaixaBank's voting power in BPI to
almost the equivalent of Ms. dos Santos. The two stakeholders are
involved in a lengthy battle over the future of BPI and its Angolan
unit after a 2014 European Union ruling placed Portugal's former
colony among countries whose debt is riskier than that of its own
members.
As a result, BPI's exposure to Angola's debt rose beyond a limit
imposed by the European Central Bank, which has told the lender to
either raise a very high amount of capital or shed the unit.
If successful in its bid, CaixaBank will have sole control of
the unit's fate.
Uncertainty over BPI's future comes as Portugal struggles with a
series of banking issues. The government recently announced a
EUR5.1 billion recapitalization plan for state-owned Caixa Geral de
Depositos SA, which should increase the country's already high debt
load.
The central bank, meanwhile, is trying--for a second time--to
sell Novo Banco SA, the "good bank" resulted from the collapse of
Banco Espírito Santo SA in 2014. The sale price is expected to be
nowhere near the EUR4.9 billion injected into the lender by the
state and domestic banks.
Jeannette Neumann in Madrid contributed to this article.
Write to Patricia Kowsmann at patricia.kowsmann@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 06, 2016 08:39 ET (12:39 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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