Dec
16
(Adds detail on bidders and offers)
MADRID Dec 16 (Reuters) – Spain’s bank restructuring fund
FROB said on Monday it had received six binding offers for 88.33
percent of state-rescued lender NCG Banco, in an
auction that will test how effective the country’s banking
clean-up has been.
Bidders for NCG, from the northern region of Galicia, were
expected to ask the government for extra state aid to ease the
sale and shield them against more losses at the bank.
Spain’s government has been resisting, however, arguing that
it has substantially turned around the financial sector since a
41.3 billion euro ($56.8 billion) European bail-out last year.
The European Commission and the International Monetary Fund
said on Monday in reviews of the sector that Spanish banks were
stronger and more solvent than before, though they said banks
still owned by the FROB needed careful monitoring.
The FROB did not disclose who had bid for NCG.
Top Spanish banks Santander and Caixabank
, Venezuelan lender Banesco and U.S. financial services
firm Guggenheim Partners have lodged bids for the bank, several
sources familiar with the auction said.
The three banks and Guggenheim declined to comment.
Spain’s BBVA was also working on an offer and was
expected to feature as a bidder, sources have previously told
Reuters. BBVA declined to comment on Monday.
International private equity firms and investors such as JC
Flowers and WL Ross, the turnaround group of U.S. billionaire
Wilbur Ross, have also circled NCG Banco in the past.
“It’s going to be tough comparing these offers as they all
include a menu of ifs and buts that affect the final price,”
said one banking source close to the process. “The valuation
hinges on how much is on offer in terms of state guarantees or
protection schemes (on assets).”
The FROB said it would study the offers in the coming hours.
If the highest bid does not surpass the second best offer by 200
million euros, and by 50 percent, the FROB said it would launch
a second bidding phase.
FROB owns the majority of the bank and the rest of NCG’s
capital is in the hands of minority shareholders, including some
former investors in preference shares who turned in their
securities for shares during its bailout.
($1 = 0.7271 euros)
(Reporting by Sarah White and Jesus Aguado; editing by Tom
Pfeiffer)
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