Bankia to be privatised and will pay back bail-out funds by 2016
Wednesday, February 5, 2014 @ 11:16 AM
BANKIA is due to go private and expects to have paid back its State bail-out within less than two years, according to CEO José Ignacio Goirigolzarri.
The entity, formed through a merger of the bankrupt Caja Madrid and Bancaja which were 'rescued' with multi-billion funds borrowed by the Spanish government from the Troika, intends to start floating its shares on the stockmarket gradually with the aim of all its capital being in private hands by the year 2016.
Taxpayers were furious when the 22.4-billion-euro bail-out for Bankia had to come out of their pockets via stringent funding cuts and higher taxes, since the government was unable to sell the two entities for more than the cost of the funds required to rescue them.
But Goirigolzarri said less than a year ago that the bank was the 'only one' which 'would be able to refund' the public cash used to keep it afloat.
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