The Resolution Fund holds 13.54% of Novo Banco’s share capital, and the sale of its stake through this operation will provide the Fund with a gross revenue of approximately 866 million euros, as stated in a communiqué.
This amount is in addition to the funds already received from Novo Banco as dividends for the 2024 results (gross value: 30 million euros) and as part of the capital reduction carried out in 2025 (149 million euros).
The Fund notes that the revenues obtained from Novo Banco allow it to “recover a portion” of the funds expended in resolving Banco Espírito Santo and “will be used to repay the Resolution Fund’s debt, particularly to the State.”
“The ability to repay the Resolution Fund’s debt has been strengthened, as demonstrated by this operation, due to the exercise of the mandatory right provided by law in 2024 to acquire conversion rights equivalent to 4.14% of Novo Banco’s capital,” it asserts.
The sale of Novo Banco to the BPCE group is said to be “the culmination of a long process initiated with the resolution of Banco Espírito Santo in 2014,” and the Resolution Fund considers that it “confirms the fulfillment of the national authorities’ objectives following that bank’s failure, particularly the continuity of financial services provided to the economy and the full safeguarding of financial stability, in terms that minimized the impact on public finances.”
The agreement announced today for the sale of the 75% stake held by Lone Star in Novo Banco to the BPCE group is valued at approximately 6.4 billion euros for the entire capital of the bank, with the transaction expected to be completed in the first half of 2026.
In a statement, BPCE stated that it is “in talks with the Portuguese Government and the Banking Resolution Fund to acquire their stakes in novobanco (11.5% and 13.5%, respectively), under similar conditions.”
Novo Banco was established in 2014 to hold parts of Banco Espírito Santo’s banking activities after its resolution.
Since 2017, when Novo Banco was sold to Lone Star, the banking Resolution Fund has injected 3.405 billion euros into the bank, causing several political and media controversies. With the early termination of this mechanism at the end of 2024, the sale of Novo Banco became possible, and it was able to pay dividends.
Lone Star announced plans for the sale of part of the bank on the stock exchange this year, along with a dividend distribution plan to make the institution attractive to investors.
