Banco Espirito Santo share price rebounds on interest from US institutions
Banco Espirito Santo’s share price rose by 14.35 per cent yesterday, following announcements that two major US financial institutions had picked up shares in the crisis-hit bank.
Goldman Sachs took a 2.27 per cent stake in the bank’s share capital last week, a statement revealed. DE Shaw, an American hedge fund, also picked up 2.71 per cent of the bank’s shares.
The interest has been seen by markets as a signal that the worst of Banco Espirito Santo’s crisis may be over.
The share price is now back to €0.48, from below €0.42 on Tuesday. The price was above €0.70 earlier this month and above €1.40 as recently as April. In May, an audit said that parent company Espirito Santo International was in a “serious financial condition” due to “irregularities”, adding to poor results and spurring the sell-off.
A brief spike in Portuguese government bond yields as the bank’s troubles emerged prompted some concern, but the yield on the country’s 10-year bonds has now settled below four per cent.