Banif Financial Group of Portugal is in the process of selling its majority stake in Banif Malta plc in line with the conditions dictated by an EU bailout agreement sealed last year with the Iberian country, Times of Malta has learnt.
This State aid agreement obliges the group to sell all its investments abroad, not only in Malta but in other countries including Brazil.
At present the Portuguese group owns more than 70 per cent of shares in Banif Malta, whose capital is €32.5 million.
A further €17.5 million authorised capital will soon be issued.
Banif Malta CEO Joaquim Silva Pinto told Times of Malta that part of the restructuring plan was still under discussion with the European Commission.
He added that the bank was looking for a strategic partner to replace the Portuguese group.
However, it was not yet clear if the bank would retain its name or have to be rebranded, as negotiations were still at an early stage.
While the group has committed itself to divest its majority stake by 2017, Mr Silva Pinto insisted the situation was fluid, so the sale could happen earlier or at a later stage, if a good offer was tabled.
Bank will seek larger share of market
Mr Silva Pinto insisted the sale of shares would not have any impact on the bank’s operations, its management structure, the staff or customers’ savings, adding that their intention was to grow further.
“Banif Bank (Malta) plc will be ambitiously seeking a larger share of the local market. It will continue striving to be one of the core banks contributing to the local economy,” he said.
“We are committed to handling this transition smoothly and carefully and we’re not in the process of closing down operations. On the contrary, we are opening more branches, with the next one earmarked for Paola,” he said.
Though this plan was first highlighted back in February when the group posted its 2013 consolidated results on its Portuguese website, no announcement was made by Banif Malta.
The Maltese bank has been in operation since 2008 and is registered with the Malta Financial Services Authority as a Maltese entity, even though its majority shareholder is foreign.
In its consolidated results posted on its Portuguese website, Banif Group said that in line with its objective to redefine its geographic presence, within the restructuring plan, “the disposal of the control participations in Banif – Banco Internacional do Funchal (Brasil), SA, Banif Bank (Malta), PLC and Banco Caboverdiano de Negócios (BCN) is currently on course and is expected to be executed during 2014”.
“In this context these operations are now classified as discon-tinued” the report said.
However, a bank spokesman insisted that the term “discon-tinued operations” was only used for accounting purposes, as the intention was to relinquish its controlling shareholding.
The bank has not yet published its financial statements for 2013, which it was bound to do by the end of last month.
Mr Silva Pinto said they had been granted an extension of one month by the regulator, and would be publishing them in the near future.
Asked to explain this delay, he said this was done to include “extra information” related to the aforementioned plans.
In January 2013 the European Commission gave the green light for a €1.1 billion government recapitalisation plan of Banif.