Lisbon, June 11, 2025 (Lusa) - French banking group BPCE has gained momentum in its bid to buy Portuguese Novo Banco from private equity firm Lone Star and is now best placed to acquire the bank, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing sources close to the process.
According to the news agency, BPCE has overtaken Spain’s Caixabank, owner of BPI bank, and is negotiating the terms of an agreement with Lone Star, the fund that holds 75% of the institution’s capital.
Last week, Lone Star approved the admission of Novo Banco’s capital to the stock market and the changes to the articles of association that allow this, paving the way, in addition to a direct sale, for an initial public offering.
The approval at the meeting represents a preliminary decision and does not oblige the bank to launch itself on the stock market, but allows it to do so if the shareholders so wish, as this option remains open, alongside a direct sale.
Novo Banco was created in 2014 to take over part of the banking activity of Banco Espírito Santo (BES) when it was wound up.
Since 2017, when Novo Banco was sold to Lone Star, the Bank Resolution Fund has injected €3.405 billion into the bank, causing several political and media controversies. With the early end of this mechanism at the end of 2024, it has become possible for Novo Banco to be sold and to pay dividends now.
Lone Star announced this year that it would sell part of the bank on the stock market and a dividend distribution plan to make the institution attractive to investors.
Bloomberg sources, who asked not to be identified as the information is private, report that the fund may make a decision in the coming days.
The news agency added that it tried to contact Lone Star, BPCE, Novo Banco and Caixabank, but they declined to comment.
Lone Star owns 75% of Novo Banco’s capital, with the remaining 25% divided between the Resolution Fund and the Directorate-General for Treasury and Finance (DGTF).
The purchase of Novo Banco by BPCE - which owns Banque Populair and Natixis - would increase its presence in Europe, at a time when executives have been making such acquisitions difficult: in Spain, there has been resistance to the purchase of Sabadell by BBVA, while Italy has imposed several conditions on the purchase of BPM by Unicredit.
In Portugal, the minister of finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, argued in May that Spanish banks should not increase their market share.
“Spanish banks currently represent a third of the Portuguese banking market and I believe that for reasons of concentration and dependence, this figure should not rise,” he said in an interview on state broadcaster RTP3.
Novo Banco revealed earlier this month that it had profits of €177.2 million in the first quarter, 1.9% less than in the first three months of 2024.
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