BKEAY Bank East Asia Ltd (PK)

   By Jeannette Neumann 
 

MADRID--Caixabank SA plans to sell two of its holdings to its parent company in a bid to decrease capital charges that regulators require for minority stakes.

Spanish and other European banks are trying to stay abreast of regulators' heightened demands for a stronger financial cushion as the bruised sector continues to recover from financial crisis.

Caixabank, Spain's No. 3 bank by market value, will sell its stakes in Grupo Financiero Inbursa and the Bank of East Asia to parent company Criteria for EUR2.65 billion, or around $2.9 billion. Critera, in turn, will pay Caixabank EUR642 million in cash and EUR2.01 billion worth of Caixabank shares, the Spanish lender announced Thursday.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year and will bring Caixabank's capital charge for minority stakes to 8.1%, which is below the 10% ratio the lender said it had set as a goal for yearend 2016.

Write to Jeannette Neumann at jeannette.neumann@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 03, 2015 17:54 ET (22:54 GMT)

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