Criteria €2.65 billion acquisition of Inbursa and Chinese Bank of East Asia

Overview:

• CaixaBank has transferred packages of Mexican bank Inbursa and Chinese Bank of East Asia (BEA) to Criteria CaixaHolding—its largest shareholder.
• The controlled holding owned by CaixaBank paid €2.65 billion to take over 9.01% of Inbursa and 17.24% of BEA. Criteria will pay €642 million in cash to CaixaBank and the remaining amount was paid in shares of the listed bank itself, which was subsequently amortized.
• By divesting the Mexican bank and BEA, Criteria meets in advance the objective set in its strategic plan to reduce the capital consumption of its investees, up to 8.1%. Since the end of 2014, this weight has already been cut in half thanks to the sale of 20.5% of Boursorama and 49% of Self Trade Bank for 251.5 million.

Adam Majeed - Regional editor