Obrascon Huarte Lain lender Banco Santander declines to lead EUR 1bn capital increase
Obrascon Huarte Lain (OHL) main creditor Banco Santander decided yesterday (5 August) not to participate in the arrangement of the construction group's EUR 1bn capital increase, El Confidencial reported citing unidentified financial sources.
OHL announced on Tuesday that it had mandated JPMorgan, BofA Merrill Lynch, Société Générale and UBS to coordinate the capital raise transaction. According to the Spanish-language report, Santander was expected to be among the lead banks, but the institution balked at the conditions as imposed by OHL on the brokers of its deal. Under the terms of the transaction, in the event that the capital increase is not fully subscribed by OHL shareholders, the lead arrangers would have to take on the unsubscribed shares.
The Villar Mir family has committed to cover EUR 380m of the EUR 1bn offer, or about 40% of the operation, the report noted. The Villar Mir family will reduce its stake in the company from 57% to 50%. The OHL shareholder group is funding its participation in the capital raise via the recently announced sale of a high-rise marquis Torre Espacio building in Madrid.
Unidentified sources, cited in the report, linked Santander's refusal with the sale of a 0.24% stake in Santander by Juan Villar Mir last June. Two months earlier, Santander had re-elected Villar Mir to the board of directors of its holding company, El Confidencial noted.
El Confidencial