Apollo Global beats bidders to the punch to land Evo Banco
US PRIVATE equity group Apollo Global Management has beaten a host of bidders in the race to land Spanish lender Evo Banco after snapping up the firm for €60m (£50.6m) yesterday.
A handful of bidders, including UK financial services group Anacap and US firm Centerbridge, are thought to have been in the race to buy the group, which is a subsidiary of state-rescued lender NCG Banco.
Apollo, founded by former Drexel Burnham Lambert man Leon Black, will buy the 80-branch company in cash, the Wall Street-based firm said.
The deal marks a potential turning point in Spain’s banking sector, which had to be bailed out with a €100bn government loan and the creation of a bad bank to remove toxic assets.
NCG Banco received €9bn of state aid bailout on the proviso it sell
Evo Banco, echoing similar state bailout provisions in the UK financial sector..
It is the second foray by Apollo into the Spanish financial sector this year after it agreed to buy FinanMadrid, the consumer loan business of Bankia, in March.