Spain's Ibercaja Banco to proceed with IPO of ordinary shares

Spain's Ibercaja Banco SA announced its intention to proceed with an IPO of its ordinary shares and said it will apply to admit them on the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia stock exchanges, as well as on the automated quotation system.

The bank's largest shareholder, Fundación Bancaria Ibercaja, will offer its existing shares in a secondary offering to reduce its stake to 46.09%, considering an over-allotment option is exercised in full, from the current roughly 88%. This is to comply with the Spanish banking foundations act. Spanish law requires former savings banks such as Ibercaja to either go public or raise funds to reduce stakes held by foundations in line with the terms of the EU's bailout of Spanish banks following the financial crisis.

The IPO will take place "potentially around mid-February," and the prospectus is expected to be approved by the market supervisor before the end of January, Reuters reported, citing a source close to the matter.

Ibercaja Foundation is expected to retain control of Ibercaja even after the planned IPO and is set to use certain proceeds from the offering to create a reserve fund for any potential recapitalization needs of the bank.

The stabilization manager, J.P. Morgan SE, will be granted an option to purchase the over-allotment shares of up to 10% of the size of the offering.

J.P. Morgan SE and Morgan Stanley Europe SE are the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the offering, while BofA Securities Europe SA and UBS Europe SE are the joint bookrunners. Alantra Capital Markets SV SA, Stifel Europe Bank AG and Société Générale SA are acting as co-lead managers, while Rothschild Co España SA is an independent financial adviser to Ibercaja Banco.

Linklaters SLP serves as legal counsel of Ibercaja Banco, while Uría Menéndez Abogados SLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP will be legal counsel of the managers.