The notification was formalized on Wednesday, November 12, according to an announcement on the website of the Directorate-General for Competition, responsible within the European Commission for the direct application of competition rules in the European Union.
The submission of information to the community executive serves for Brussels to monitor concentrations and assess whether the operation affects competition in the internal market.
The notification follows the agreements signed on October 29 by the Portuguese State and the Resolution Fund to adhere to the contract for the sale of the institution to BPCE by the Lone Star fund, the majority shareholder through ‘holding’ Nani Holdings S.à.r.l.
According to official information published on the website of the Directorate-General for Competition, Brussels should issue a decision on this process by December 17.
Novo Banco was established in 2014 to take over part of the banking activities of BES when, in August of that year, the former bank led by Ricardo Salgado was subject to a resolution measure.
Since 2017, when it was sold to Lone Star, the banking Resolution Fund has injected 3,405 million euros into the bank, causing various political and media controversies. With the early end of this mechanism at the end of 2024, the sale of the bank and the payment of dividends by the financial institution became possible.
The sale to the French banking group was agreed upon in June this year for 6,400 million euros.
At the signing ceremony of the Portuguese State and Resolution Fund’s adherence agreements, the Minister of State and Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, argued that the sale, besides “representing the culmination of a long process that began over 10 years ago with the resolution of Banco Espírito Santo,” reinforces the diversification of the national banking system and prevents “excessive concentrations.”
On the day of the ceremony, at the Hall of Honor of the Ministry of Finance, the Judiciary Police (PJ) conducted searches at Novo Banco’s headquarters and at the offices of the consultancy KPMG in Lisbon, as part of an investigation into suspected offenses of passive and active corruption in the private sector, aggravated fraud, and money laundering.
The investigation is concerned with suspicions of “illegalities in the sale of real estate assets held by a bank financed by the Portuguese State through the Resolution Fund, resulting in significant losses for the bank in question and the interests of the State,” confirmed the Judiciary Police (PJ) in a statement on that day.
