Novobanco concludes sale of Spain banking operation to Abanca

  • Lusa
  • 30 November 2021

Novobanco had announced on April 5 that it had signed an agreement with Abanca to sell its retail, private banking and SME operations in Spain, including 10 branches and their staff.

Portugal’s Novobanco on Tuesday announced that it had concluded the sale of its branches in Spain to Abanca Corporación Bancaria, a deal announced on April 5 that includes retail, private banking and small and medium-sized enterprise operations.

“The completion of this transaction has no material impact in the expected net income of 2021 and will strengthen the capital position with circa 40 bps expected increase in the Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of 10.9% as of September 31st 2021,” the bank said in a statement sent to Portugal’s Securities Markets Commission (CMVM).

The bank described the move as “an important milestone” in its “strategy to divest its non-core assets and operations, in particular, to reduce complexity and costs, and allows the Bank to pursue its strategy to redeploy resources to its core banking business in Portugal.”

Novobanco had announced on April 5 that it had signed an agreement with Abanca to sell its retail, private banking and SME operations in Spain, including 10 branches and their staff.

In a statement sent to the CMVM at the time, Novobanco noted that the completion of the transaction was subject to the respective regulatory authorisations and that it was expected to be concluded “in the second half of 2021”. It also said that the agreement “represents the most appropriate option for divesting the business, ensuring the maintenance of customer service and offering attractive long-term prospects for customers and employees in Spain.”

Novobanco had previously examined several strategic options relating to its operation in Spain and began a sale process in May 2020. On 30 September of this year, it recorded the operation as discontinued in its balance sheet.