BPCE Buys Novo Banco For €6.7 Billion — Why The Portugal Deal Matters Now
BPCE has wrapped up its €6.7 billion acquisition of Novo Banco, securing all shares from Lone Star Funds, the Portuguese state, and the Resolution Fund. With the deal closed, Portugal now stands as BPCE’s second-biggest home retail market outside France. The closing is significant: the owner of Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne now picks up a genuine second home market just as regulators nudge European banks toward cross-border scale. Back when the deal first surfaced last year, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau described it as “good news both for the banking union and for the French banking system,” according to Reuters.