Unicaja completes takeover of Liberbank to become fifth largest bank in Spain

Unicaja has completed its take over Liberbank to become the fifth largest bank in Spain.

Unicaja Bank has announced the completion of its merger with Liberbank. The merger is already registered in the Mercantile Registry of the province of Malaga and the shares of the combined entity will begin trading on Monday.

Manuel Azuaga (President of Unicaja Banco, S.A) said that the financial strength and the greater size will allow “to better face the challenges of the sector.”

Unicaja Banco, established 30 years ago from a group of five Andalusian local savings banks with origins dating back even to the late nineteenth century, takes a new direction as an entity spanning six communities, logically Andalucia among them, bringing together the business of twenty old savings banks.

Only CaixaBank, Santander, BBVA and Sabadell are ahead of the Malaga bank, in terms of size by volume of assets.

Liberbank was a Spanish financial services company constituted by a merger of Group Cajastur, Caja de Extremadura and Caja Cantabria and was established from the combination of the assets and liabilities of the banking business.

The boards of directors of both banks reached an agreement for their integration seven months ago. Once the process of mandatory regulatory authorisations were completed the new Unicaja finally became a reality to become the fifth largest Spanish bank in size, with almost 113,000 million euros in assets, presence in 80% of the country and handles more than 4.5 million clients.

Manuel Menéndez, CEO of the new company, stressed that the operation “will provide value for shareholders, customers and employees, improving efficiency and profitability levels, and will strengthen the market position in retail banking, with a robust and quality balance “. Likewise, it will allow them “to continue supporting families and companies in meeting their financial needs.”

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