Spain's La Caixa Bank Increases stake in Hong Kong Bank

Spain's largest savings bank La Caixa said on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement to increase its stake in the Bank of East Asia from 9.81% to 14.99% at a cost of 331 million euros.

Under the agreement, the bank’s investment division Criteria would increase its holding by fully subscribing to a BEA capital hike, the bank said in a statement released today.

Criteria president Isidro Faine said the unlisted bank's position in BEA "offers a unique exposure to a market whose long-term growth perspectives are really exceptional." La Caixa, controlled by the Catalonian regional government, has progressively been increasing its stake in BEA, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, since it first entered its capital in 2007.

The two banks have been working together for years in the areas of trade finance and remittances business.