MADRID (dpa-AFX) – The Spanish bank BBVA is planning an extensive share buyback thanks to the billions expected from the sale of the US business. After the transaction is completed, around 10 percent of its own paper will be acquired, as the company announced in Madrid on Friday. The Spaniards had agreed in November with the American financial group PNC to sell their US business for 11.6 billion US dollars (just under 10 billion euros). That had led to speculation at the time about the use of the money. Mergers and acquisitions have been speculated about. BBVA had actually had talks with the Banco de Sabadell, but ended them quickly.
Regardless of the sale, the shareholders are to receive a dividend of EUR 0.059 per share. In the future, 35 to 40 percent of the profit will be distributed again. However, this also needs the approval of the ECB as does a share buyback. The central bank had only loosened the dividend freeze for large European banks in December.
In the three months to the end of December, the bank earned around 1.3 billion euros, which is reportedly the best quarterly result in two years. In the final quarter, additional money for credit risks was set aside with 834 million euros. However, analysts had expected an even greater burden here./mis/fba
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