According to Portugal’s Directorate-General of Competition, which must give the green light if the operation is to go ahead, the commission was notified on Tuesday and has until 13 May to pronounce on the subject.
The notification is part of normal procedures in this kind of operation. In this case, for the deal to go ahead the commission would have to state that it does not oppose it.
Caixabank, which is already BPI’s largest shareholder with 44.1 percent, in February announced its intention to bid for the rest of the shares. Its main condition for the takeover is that the voting rights limit of 20 percent is removed from the company’s statutes, and that it manages to secure 50 percent of the shares.
The offer values BPI at €1.329 a share.
BPI’s next largest shareholders are Santoro, a company controlled by Angolan investor Isabel dos Santos, with 18.6 percent, and Germany’s Allianz group, with 8.4 percent.