Repsol's Largest Shareholder Divests

The largest shareholder in Spain's largest oil company Repsol said on September 20 that it is divesting its entire 9.36% stake.

Barcelona-based CaixaBank announced it will liquidate two existing equity swaps that amount to a 4.61% stake in Repsol and then sell the remaining 4.75% interest. Spanish newspaper Expansion reported the 9.36% stake is worth just over €2.5bn ($2.9bn). CaixaBank added that its chairman Jordi Gual and CEO Gonzalo Gortazar have submitted their resignation from Repsol's board. 

Almost four-fifths of Repsol's share capital is 'free float'; its only other significant shareholders are Spanish construction firm Sacyr with 7.7% and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek 3.3%.

CaixaBank and two investment funds, GIP and CVC, each hold about 20% equity in leading Spanish gas and power utility Naturgy (formerly called Gas Natural), controlling the latter through a shareholders pact.  CVC bought its Naturgy stake from Repsol, which divested it for €3.816bn ($4.7bn) earlier this year after having been a core Naturgy shareholder for almost 20 years.

In June 2018, Repsol agreed to buy a Spanish power generation and energy retail business for €750mn ($871mn), thus becoming a direct competitor to its former downstream partner Naturgy.