The next Council of Ministers, the last of the year, will approve next Tuesday the extension of the State’s disinvestment deadline by two additional years to Caixabank. This agreement extends until December 2025 the deadline for selling the stake that the FROB, known as the bad bank, holds in the entity. The extension, indicates the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, seeks to ensure “greater efficiency in the use of public resources, maximizing the recovery value of the State’s participation”. The divestment process, adds the same source, must take into account the “current context of uncertainty” and the “high volatility” in the markets, as well as the “potential” of CaixaBank’s action.
The FROB currently maintains a single active stake that began in 2013 with the acquisition of 68.69% of Bankia. After the merger by absorption of this entity by CaixaBank, the FROB obtained a 16.12% stake in the resulting bank. After the completion of the share purchase program and the capital reduction approved yesterday by the entity, the stake is approximately 17.3%.
This will be the fourth extension of the initial sales period. The first was approved in December 2016, the second in 2018 and the last in February 2021, with an extension of the divestment period until December 2023.