Bankia is very close to launching its IPO. The Spanish company led by Rodrigo Rato is preparing the final details of a private placement after wrapping up paperwork requirements handled by the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), Spain´s version of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Considering that the CNMV is not meeting on Thursday because of a bank holiday, it is expected that the document could be registered on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week if the supervisor of the CNMV does not ask for further clarifications
After approvals are finalized, the days will fly by and the bank would be able to start trading in mid-July.
Bankia´s is trying to place between 3 and 4 billion euros, half of which would be reserved for large investors in Europe. According to sources familiar with the matter, the bank is ready to place half of those large investors shares with Spanish institutional investors.
Analysts explain that being able to count on this investor base will add to the fact that deal prices will not go much further than Bankia believed, considering that investors who know the idiosyncrasies of the cajas are used to including national banks in their portfolios and that they do not penalize or discount banks that originate in Spain. As for the other half, these investors will come from the rest of Europe.
Edited in English by Brandon Dyches and Jose L. De Haro (joseluisdeharo@eleconomista.es)
