CaixaBank Buys Banco BPI's Card Business

Portugal's Banco BPI S/A (BPI.LB) will sell its card and point-of-sale activities to entities associated with CaixaBank SA (CABK.MC) for a total of 113 million euros ($134.1 million), the two banks said Thursday.

CaixaBank SA (CABK.MC) holds a controlling stake in Banco BPI.

CaixaBank Payments E.P., a wholly-owned subsidiary of CaixaBank, will acquire Banco BPI's credit and debit card-emitting activities for EUR53 million.

At the same time, Comercia Global Payments E.P., a joint venture between CaixaBank and Global Payments Inc., will acquire Banco BPI's point-of-sale terminal activities for EUR60 million.

The objective of the two deals is to "improve and broaden, in both the medium and long term, the commercial offering for BPI clients, create synergies with CaixaBank, and allow Banco BPI to concentrate on its core banking activity," Banco BPI said.

The transactions won't result in any transfer of personnel, Banco BPI said.

CaixaBank gained control of Banco BPI in February when it increased its stake to 84.5% from about 45%. In November, Banco BPI sold its life insurance and pension-management business, as well as two investment funds, to CaixaBank for a total of EUR222 million.

The transactions will result in a EUR99 million pretax gain for Banco BPI and will increase its fully-loaded common equity tier 1 capital by 0.46 percentage points. Banco BPI projects that the effects of these transactions, along with those announced in November, will result in a fully-loaded CET1 ratio, a key measure of capital strength for banks, of 13.2%.

The deals are subject to regulatory approval.

Write to Sonia Amaral Rohter at sonia.amaralrohter@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 22, 2017 05:57 ET (10:57 GMT)