The bid by CaixaBank, which is already the largest shareholder in BPI, began on 17 January and the Spanish bank was offering €1.134 a share. The bid is to end at 15:30 this afternoon.

On Wednesday the bank will say if the bank’s current shareholders have accepted to sell their shares or decided to keep them.

Caixabank currently owns 45.50% of the bank’s capital, followed by Angolan holding Santoro, which belongs to Isabel dos Santos, with 18.6%. Among the other qualified shareholders are the Allianz insurance company (8.4%) and the Violas Ferreira Financial group (2,7%), BPI’s largest Portuguese shareholder.

The price that CaixaBank offered in its bid was criticised by various small shareholders as it was considered to be too low.