Caixa Econômica Federal CEO Pedro Guimarães said the state-owned bank plans to go ahead with an initial public offering of shares for the bank's insurance arm Caixa Seguridade Participações SA this year despite regulatory hurdles, Reuters reported.
Speaking at an event to present Caixa's second quarter earnings, the executive said the IPO of its card unit Caixa Cartões would be delayed until 2020, however, due partly to regulatory delays. Guimarães also explained that it "doesn't make sense" to carry out two offerings of such volume in the market simultaneously.
The timeline is a revision of the plan Caixa announced in March, that it would sell shares in the insurance unit in September, followed by the card unit later in the year, and its lottery and asset management businesses in the first four months of 2020, in deals worth about 15 billion reais in total.
Guimarães reportedly also confirmed Caixa will sell its stake in Banco Pan SA, which he described as "nonstrategic," but added that there was no rush to off-load it.
Caixa's divestment plans are part of a wider economic trend under Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, which has seen state-run lenders reduce their market shares, while private banks have bolstered theirs.
As of Sept. 2, US$ 1 was equivalent to 4.16 Brazilian reais.
- Author
- Helgi Gudmundsson
- Theme
- Banking
