Spanish lender CaixaBank has revealed that it is considering a potential divestment of all or part of its 9.92% stake in Erste Bank.
Caixabank owns a 5.42% unhedged stake in the Austria-based lender.
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The Spanish lender is also considering settling the equity swaps underlying 4.5% of its stake in Erste Bank.
Caixabank stated that it is in talks with Erste Foundation for the divestment of its unhedged stake to pre-identified buyers.
Caixabank has partnered with the Erste Foundation since 2009, which is the main shareholder of Erste bank.
As per media reports, the entire stake could fetch Caixabank nearly $1.92bn based on Thursday’s closing price of Erste in Vienna.
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By GlobalDataCaixabank noted that the divesture would result in an improvement of 15 basis points in its CET1 ratio.
The manner and timing of the potential divestment would depend on multiple factors and it will ultimately depend on market conditions, Caixabank added.
Unlike its peers such as Banco Santander and BBVA, Caixabank has very little presence outside the Spanish market.
If the proposed divesture materialises, it will end Caixabank’s foray into the eastern European banking space.
Earlier this year, CaixaBank acquired its local rival Bankia to create the largest domestic lender in Spain.
The acquisition is expected to give Caixabank an effective monopoly in 21 postal codes across Spain.
The combined business is expected to have more than €650bn in assets, 6,300 branches in Spain and 51,500 employees.
