CaixaBank and the 50% Threshold: State and La Caixa Moves

CaixaBank’s core shareholders are shifting their weight as the State, through the Fund for Ordered Banking Restructuring (FROB), prepares a small, tightly defined divestment of its stake worth about 90 million euros, a fraction of the bank’s current market value around 6.8 billion. The objective is to keep the State’s participation at 18.1% once CaixaBank completes the buyback program launched last Tuesday and amortizes those shares in coming months. At the same time, the La Caixa Foundation via its investment arm Criteria is also selling to stay near 31%. The net effect of these moves is that the combined holdings of both shareholders will remain below 50% of the bank’s capital, a threshold that has held for more than two and a half years.