Cleary Gottlieb acted as counsel to Crédit Agricole S.A. in connection with the sale of its remaining stake in the Spanish bank Bankinter S.A., representing 66,197,765 ordinary shares or 7.6% of Bankinter’s share capital, for a total price of approximately €224 million. The transaction, which launched and priced on September 4 and closed on September 9, was managed by Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and UBS Ltd. The Bankinter shares were offered to qualified investors.
Crédit Agricole acquired a minority stake in Bankinter in 2007 as part of its European expansion strategy, but has since sold down its interest as it has changed its strategy to focus on its core banking business. After this offering, Crédit Agricole S.A will still hold mandatorily convertible bonds representing less than 2% of Bankinter’s fully diluted capital.