PARIS, Jan 18 (Reuters) – BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), France’s largest listed financial institution, stated on Wednesday that it had obtained all the mandatory regulatory approvals to finish its beforehand introduced sale of Financial institution of the West to Financial institution of Montreal (BMO.TO).
BNP Paribas added that this transaction was anticipated to shut on Feb 1.
Financial institution of Montreal agreed in December 2021 to buy BNP Paribas’ U.S. unit, Bank of the West, for $16.3 billion in its largest deal ever, permitting the Canadian lender to double its footprint on this planet’s largest financial system, whereas giving BNP an enormous step up in monetary firepower for offers.
“The closing of the Bancwest sale has been long-awaited … and is a big constructive catalyst for BNP shares in our view,” Jefferies analysts stated in a notice.
They stated the deal would unlock 11 billion euros of capital for the French financial institution, of which 4 billion can be returned to shareholders by way of a share buy-back that would happen within the second quarter of this yr.
Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Silvia Aloisi; modifying by Jason Neely
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