After cutting ties with AIG and Mapfre, Bankia is now preparing to sell 5.8% of Iberdrola. No matter what happens when Bankia divests of the power company, Goirigolzarri has already assured that the bank will earn at least 800 million in net profits by the end of this year.
Bankia wants to make the most of a surging Spanish stock market and a relative calm after the first wave of power sector reforms. Bankia could also wait until early 2014 to do the deal and use the money it makes to help meet its revenue goal for next year.
This strategy might be best even though banks are feeling pressure to increase their profit margins as much as possible as they recuperate from a massive sector-wide cleanup and struggling to make amends with bitter preferential shareholders.