Caja Madrid´s ongoing support of Mapfre will now be rewarded. According to sources familiar with the deal, the insurance company is thinking about purchasing between 2-3% of Bankia once it goes public. This investment is contingent on a final valuation. In any case, the final purchase will be less than 5%. In a press conference (during which he recalled Mapfre´s results at the end of 2010) the company?s president José Manuel Martínez admitted that they intend to maintain a presence in the new banks that are rising out of the financial crisis and that his firm is invested in nearly all of the banks that have market valuations.
During the past week vice president Antonia Huertas qualified investing in these firms because of their potential for profit. Huertas recalled that investment levels would be in line with the insurance company?s equity investment policies and its current deposits of around 1 billion euros.
Investments in Bankia would, at the least, back the IPO of a company built from seven Spanish savings banks. Yet the insurance company didn´t anticipate that this kind of involvement would be significant.
Much depends on a final and pending valuation, what kind of discount is available and (as a function of participation) if they would be given any form of advisory role after purchasing shares in the company.
Edited in English by Brandon Dyches and Jose L. De Haro (joseluisdeharo@eleconomista.es)
