The two main shareholders of CaixaBankthe La Caixa Banking Foundation (30.012%) and the Condition (16.117%), they will have to decide in a few months if raise their position majority in the financial institution or sell a small part to recover a share similar to the one they hold today. Fruit of the process of repurchase and redemption of shares that the bank has launched to remunerate all its owners, the entity chaired by Isidre Faine and the public Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB) will increase their participation up to a maximum of 33.3% and 17.9%. predictably it will happen before the end of the yearor at the latest at the beginning of the next, and it is from then that they will make a determination.
The Ministry of Economythus, has the matter on the table, but will not decide until the bank has amortized the securities acquired In a few monthsaccording to sources from the department he heads Nadia Calvino. The Government, in any case, may have a more incentive to increase its stake in CaixaBank, since –without putting more public money– this will allow you to receive a higher percentage of dividends to be paid by the bank in the coming years. In fact, the Executive considers re-enlarge before the end of 2022 statutory deadline for exit entity beyond the current one (end of 2023) within its strategy of maximizing aid recovery.
Instead, if reduce your share through a sale of shares, you will receive less future dividend and register a handicap (not with respect to the exchange of shares from the absorption of Bankia by CaixaBank, because the quotation of the bank has risen about 37% since then, but with respect to the original value of the shares of Bankia when it was nationalized in 2012). The only positive aspect of selling would be to send the message to the market that the State does not increase its participation in a private bank. But it pales in comparison to the other arguments, especially considering that the stated goal of economics is recover the most possible of the 24,069 million euros injected into the extinct group nationalized by the Executives of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy.
never below 30%
The La Caixa Banking Foundation, along the same lines, not in a hurry either to make a decision and will wait for the bench chaired by Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri and led by Gonzalo Gortazar complete the repurchase and redemption of shares. In any case, even if i decided to sell a small package of shares, the entity will never reduce its participation -which it conveys through its ‘holding’ Criteria- below 30%. The banking foundations law of 2013 thus establishes a special regime with tax advantages for those who have a stake in their bank equal to or greater than that percentage.
It is also likely that both of CaixaBank’s reference shareholders will meet again in a similar situation in the coming years. The bank has left open the possibility of making additional buybacks of shares in the future provided that your capital is above 12%a level that it will continue to maintain once the ongoing process is complete.
accelerated execution
Related news
In recent years, share buybacks have become widespread in banking as a way to pay the owners given the low stock market price of the sector caused by the prolonged environment of zero or negative interest rates. Thus, CaixaBank announced a repurchase a month ago for a maximum value of €1.8 billion to amortize as a ceiling 10% of its share capital, percentage from which the participation that the foundation and the State could reach is deducted. The program will last maximum of 12 monthsbut the bank intends to run it this year. In fact, in less than a month (between May 17 and June 10), Morgan Stanley -hired by the entity to manage the repurchase- had already acquired titles equivalent to 1.29% of the share capital for a value of 347 million euros, the 19.3% of the total amount provided.
The buyback (known in financial parlance as ‘share buyback’) is an operation by which a company buys its own shares to amortize or eliminate them. By reducing the number of shares outstanding, it increases the participation of the shareholders that remain in the company without the need for them to buy new shares. It benefits such owners because it tends to raise the share price (due to the greater demand for the securities during the time the acquisitions are carried out and because, with the same value of the company and fewer shares, each security will have more value); increase your earnings per share (the profit of the company is spread over a smaller number of titles); Y does not entail tax burdens (as opposed to collecting dividends) if the shareholder does not sell.