CaixaBank has completed the share repurchase operation as a shareholder remuneration formula. The mechanism consists in the fact that the bank acquires its own shares in the market and then redeems them. By making them disappear, if the rest of the shareholders do not sell theirs, the percentage held by each one automatically increases simply because there are fewer titles in circulation.
At its meeting yesterday, the CaixaBank board of directors approved the redemption of almost 7% of the bank's shares within the aforementioned shareholder remuneration plan announced in January of this year. In a statement sent to the CNMV (National Securities Market Commission), the bank has informed that the redeemed shares and, therefore, are out of circulation are those that the entity has been buying in recent months on the stock market.
According to analyst estimates, if the large shareholders do not sell their shares, Criteria Caixa's stake will go from 30 to 32% while the State through the FROB (Bank Restructuring Fund) will go from 16.1% to 17. 2%.
"The execution of the capital reduction has been approved under the agreement adopted by the general meeting of shareholders on April 8, 2022," the bank explained. As there are fewer shares in circulation, in theory the value of the existing ones rises and when a dividend is distributed, the amount to be paid for each share will be higher.
The resulting share capital is fixed at 7,502.1 million euros, represented by 7,502.1 million shares with a face value of 1 euro each.
The entity has also communicated yesterday to the CNMV the appointment of the independent director Eduardo Javier Sanchiz Irazu as the new coordinating director, after the expiration of the mandate of John S. Reed after 12 years in office.
CaixaBank earned 2,457 million euros in the first nine quarters of the year. It is a declared profit 48.8% lower than that registered in the same period of 2021. The decrease is due to the fact that last year the bank benefited from extraordinary accounting results due to the absorption of Bankia. According to the entity, "on a comparable basis" profits grew by 17.7% in the period analyzed.
