CaixaBank begins the accelerated placement of its 5.42% stake in the Austrian Erste Group

CaixaBank announced on Thursday afternoon that the process began placement of its 5.42% stake (23.3 million shares) in the Austrian bank Erste Group. The entity already informed the market on October 21 of its intention to carry out this divestment and exit the financial group. The bank will indicate at the end of the day the price at which the securities have been placed.

The bank headed by Gonzalo Gortázar has a total of 9.92% of Erste’s voting rights, but a part (4.5%) is covered by share swap contracts that can be settled in cash or through the delivery of the shares underlying the counterparties of said contracts.

As CaixaBank has notified the CNMV, the package put up for sale is intended for institutional investors and one institution has agreed to put a firm order in the sale for 4,298,000 shares, 18% of the total. BofA Securities and Erste Group are acting as joint coordinators in the accelerated placement.

Coinciding with the operation, the Catalan-based bank will also physically liquidate its swap contract positions in relation to its approximately 19.3 million Erste Group shares. As a result, following the sale and liquidation of the share swaps, CaixaBank will have completely exited its stake in Erste Group, after thirteen years in the capital.

CaixaBank is currently carrying out this operation based on three arguments. On the one hand, the entry into force of Basel IV, scheduled for 2023, will require a higher cost of capital for banks for investees of this type due to the risk they entail. Likewise, investors in the financial group seek to enter CaixaBank due to its business focused on Spain and Portugal with a focus on the banking-insurance activity, avoiding a risk in Austria. Finally, the bank also takes advantage of the moment of the market of the Eastern European entity that trades in recent months at the highest levels in recent years, which will allow it to exit without handicaps.