Second phase of Portugal’s CGD sale starts Monday
The second phase of the sale of Portuguese bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos’ (CGD) Spanish subsidiary Banco Caixa Geral will begin on June 25.
The Portuguese Government has set the deadline for presenting prospective buyer candidates by 10 September.
“The second phase of the share selloff through direct sale regarding Banco Caixa Geral begins 25 June 2018,” states the government’s bulletin Diário da República.
Three entities are said to be interested in buying up the Spanish arm of Caixa Geral de Depósitos – the bank Abanca, the Crédito Social Cooperativo (Cajamar) and the US fund Cerberus European Investments.
Other once interested parties are now out of the running, including Caja Rural Castilla-La Mancha, Socrates Capital Holdings Ltd and Weston Hill Asset Management, SL.
CGD, Portugal’s largest bank and state-owned, wants to slash its foreign assets by half by 2020 as part of an ongoing restructuring plan. The alienation of its subsidiary companies in Spain and South Africa are part of this plan.
In 2016 CGD posted a record loss of €1.86Bn which has forced it to cut its international operations and sell these assets to help raise equity. The bank also announced it would raise €300Bn by bank bonds which are currently be peddled in major European capitals in an investors roadshow.
