Unicaja leaves US ‘roadshow’ to try to expand investment base | Companies

Unicaja is trying to sell investors on its new era. In recent months, the Andalusian bank has traveled to the United States to meet with the country’s major investors as part of a series of meetings Road show through the country’s major financial centres. The aim is to explain the new objectives of the enterprise and attract new investors to expand the shareholder base.

The truth is that Unicaja has a lot to tell investors after the conflict is resolved…

Unicaja is trying to sell investors on its new era. In recent months, the Andalusian bank has traveled to the United States to meet with the country’s major investors as part of a series of meetings Road show through the country’s major financial centres. The aim is to explain the new objectives of the enterprise and attract new investors to expand the shareholder base.

The truth is that Unicaja has a lot to tell investors after resolving the conflict at the top. The new management – ​​led by José Sevilla as president, although without executive responsibilities, and Rubiales as CEO – is now fully formed and is preparing a new strategic plan with the aim of having a roadmap ready by October. The current plan, which expires this year and was presented after the merger with Liberbank, sets a target return on equity of 8% and a capital generation of 1.5 billion euros. In the configuration of this roadmap and in this Road show Luis Colorado, the new CEO of the Santander retail business, will play an important role.

The message that Unicaja wanted to convey to the market was that calm had returned to the bank after the turbulent crisis at Liberbank. The management crisis at the institution had deprived Liberbank of its previous CEO, Manuel Menendez; its previous president, Manuel Azuaga; the former head of the bank and the fund, Braulio Medel; and a good group of independent directors.

The market has applauded the company’s progress in recent months. Despite a recent drop in interest rates and a forecast that the European Central Bank (ECB) will continue to cut the price of money in the coming months, the shares have risen 43% this year. In late May, following discontent over BBVA’s hostile takeover bid for Sabadell and the prospect of a renewed merger in Spain, the shares hit a 2018 high of over €1.30 per share.

Unicaja has an argument in its favor. These are the results of the first quarter of the year, the first under the new management. Profits tripled compared to the figures for the same period of the previous year, to 111 million. The result was supported by an improvement in revenues, as well as a 40% reduction in provisions. The bank should confirm these good figures for the first half of the year.

During his visit to the US, Rubiales is also seeking to find new investors to extend the rally. According to Bloomberg, large US funds make up just 10% of their investor base, compared with 0.5% in the UK. Among them, Vanguard, Fidelity and BlackRock stand out with 2.1%, 1.6% and 0.7% respectively, much less than other listed Spanish banks. For example, BlackRock’s stake in BBVA, Banco Sabadell and Santander exceeds 5%.

The Unicaja share package has a special feature. It is the weight of Spanish shareholders and, in particular, banking funds. The Unicaja fund still holds just over 30% of the capital, while the Asturian fund from Liberbank holds 6.5%. In addition, 5.1% is owned by the investor Tomás Olivo and another 5% is in the hands of the founders of Mayoral, since the British opportunistic fund Oceanwood, which emerged from Liberbank, sold its securities last summer.

Unicaja’s move comes at a crucial time for the sector in Spain. BBVA has filed a hostile takeover bid to acquire Banco Sabadell at a price of one share in the Basque bank for 4.83 shares in the Catalan entity. The move ends months of speculation that Sabadell was considering a merger with Unicaja. Given the Catalan bank’s management’s refusal to take on BBVA, a move to the Andalusian institution could be an effective line of defense.

In any case, the move by BBVA and Sabadell once again puts an idea into the minds of those investors to whom Unicaja is trying to appeal. The Spanish banking sector could once again see corporate moves with the prospect of cross-border mergers, which regulators are advocating for but which banks do not see as a viable option.

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