BPCE leads the race for Novobanco
The French banking group BPCE is said to be in the lead to buy Novobanco if the offer is accepted by the US majority shareholder Lone Star that holds 75% of the bank.
Although the Spanish bank CaixaBank, which has BPI in Portugal, is said to be interested in acquiring Novobanco, the government has already made clear that it will not pay staff holiday subsidies if it succeeds in the purchase.
Portugal’s government has plainly stated that it does not want to see the “Spanishisation” of Portugal’s banking sector since Spanish banking groups already hold about 30% of the entire system and 21% of assets.
According to Bloomberg, which cites sources familiar with the process, the French group – which already has a presence in Portugal through Oney – is, among the potential buyers of Novo Banco and is the one best positioned for the acquisition.
And a decision to ether sell to the French group or opt for an IPO floatation on the stock market is only days away.
The main shareholder has not yet decided whether to proceed with a direct sale or to disperse part of the capital (up to 30%) on the stock exchange. BPCE, Lone Star, Novo Banco and CaixaBank have not commented.
Last week, Novo Banco’s shareholders authorised the opening of the capital (i.e. going public), a key step for the IPO. Lone Star (75% of the capital), the Resolution Fund (13.54%) and the State (11.46%) authorised the opening of the capital, thereby eliminating the last internal formal obstacle to the operation. A possible IPO also depends on getting the green light for the Red Herring* to be presented to potential investors – *the prospectus for the sale – from the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM). The authorisation is not likely to take long.
BPCE is the second largest banking group in France. Employing 100,000 people, it has 35 million clients and is present in Portugal through Natixis (an investment bank with a technology centre in Porto) and Oney (a consumer credit lender which provides financial credit services to customers of Ikea, Leroy Merlin, Auchan and Norauto.
