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Banco Popular discounts issue
Spain’s Banco Popular Espanol has said it will issue new shares to investors at a steep discount to its price in an effort to avoid having to take state aid. Shareholders approved a €2.5bn rights issue at the weekend, with Popular offering the new shares at €0.401 per share, representing a 64 per cent discount to last Friday’s closing share price of €1.118. Existing shareholders will be able to buy three new shares for each share they already own.