The process of merger of the two mid-sized Spanish banks Unicaja and Liberbank was cancelled after the two lenders said they could not reach a deal over the terms of a share swap.

Merger talks started in the summer of 2018 which, in the case an agreement had been reached, would have created Spain’s sixth-largest bank with around € 100 bn in assets and headquartered in the Andalusian city of Malaga

According to sources close to the matter, Unicaja wanted to take a 60% stake in the new entity, a proposal rejected by Liberbank, which was talking of a 55% instead, leaving itself with a minority stake of 45%.

Last month, in a bid to accelerate the operation, both the president of Unicaja, Manuel Azuagaand, and the chief executive officer of Libernank, Manuel Menéndez, had met the European Central Bank in Frankfurt to present all the details on the merger project.

Liberbank was created out of the merger of three regional savings banks in 2011, in the midst of Spain’s banking crisis.

Unicaja, based in the Andalusian city of Málaga, was created from the merger of five local savings banks in 1991.

Original Story:Investment Europe | Eugenia Jimenéz
Photo: Unicaja Banco site
Edition:Prime Yield