Portugal: Norges Bank increases stake in BCP bank

Lisbon, May 30 (Lusa) – The Norges Bank has increased its stake in Portugal’s largest private bank, BCP to 2.63%, according to information filed on Tuesday with the Portuguese Securities and Exchange Commission (CMVM), and is currently the third largest investor in the Portuguese bank.

Today’s market share was the result of a “transaction on 25 May, 2017,” giving the company that manages the world’s largest sovereign fund a stake of more than the 2.15% owned by the EDP Group, according to the BCP website.

However, the shareholder structure on the BCP website refers to the interests of its shareholders at 31 December, 2016 and in the case of EDP there is only an obligation to disclose to the market position fluctuations if they are below 2% or above 5 % of the capital.

Lusa contacted BCP which indicated that in February, after the capital increase of the bank, EDP kept its 2.15%.

The main shareholder of BCP is Chinese group Fosun with about 25%, followed by ANgolan oil company Sonangol with around 15%.

The third largest shareholder, according to information provided on Tuesday, will be Norges Bank – whose share in the bank has fluctuated in recent months – with 2.63% of the capital. The EDP group, a former shareholder of the bank, will now be the fourth largest investor, with 2.15%.

BCP reported profits of €50.1 million in the first quarter of this year, a 7.0% increase compared to a profit of €46.7 million in the same period last year.

IM/CA // CA

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