The Ibex receives a new bank and will stop trading with 34 values as it had been doing temporarily. Unicaja will be incorporated next December 27 to the index to replace Siemens Gamesa after the takeover bid launched by its parent company, whose final objective was to exclude it from the stock market – it has managed to gain more than 92% of the capital. With the Andalusian, there are again six financial entities within the Ibex. And there are already four companies that make it to the index this year: Acciona Energía, Sacyr, Logista and Unicaja.
The bank will enter the index four and a half years after its debut on the trading floor. He chose a difficult moment for the sector in Spain. Its IPO took place in June 2017, the month in which Banco Popular left the Ibex precisely after the purchase by Banco Santander. Since then, there weren’t as many banks in the index.
Unicaja will debut next week with a capitalization which is around 2,500 million euros, after adding 8% this year; although it falls back around 14% from the 1.10 per share at which it went public. Its average value in the last six months meets the requirements to enter the index, representing more than 0.30% of the average total of the Ibex in this period. By size, it would be between Acerinox and Fluidra.
Although what has really given him the pass to the index has been his negotiation. Unicaja is one of the 36 most traded stocks on the Spanish stock market in the last semester, only behind PharmaMar, which has lagged behind in capitalization and which the committee that looks after the index has just excluded to give entry to Logista. The hiring placed Unicaja ahead of Vidrala, CIE and Viscofan to fill the position of Siemens Gamesa. The stock has gained a lot of liquidity throughout the year. In the review of the Ibex of December 2021, it was ranked 43rd by traded volume, with which it has jumped seven places.
Quote with discount
It was last year when Unicaja concluded the merger with Liberbank, giving rise to the fifth largest Spanish bank by volume of assets. Today it maintains that position, adding 112,956 million euros at the end of September. By capitalization, on the other hand, it would occupy sixth place, behind Banco Sabadell, which is listed at around 4,900 million.
Unicaja trades with a strong discount against their book value and against investment bank valuations. The market only recognizes 0.38 times its book value and analysts value it at 1.33 euros, according to Bloomberg, 42% above current levels.
Source: www.eleconomista.es
