Bankia bought BMN (Banco Mare Nostrum), a small Spanish regional bank active in the south of the country and in the Balearic Islands, for 825 million euros.
For Bankia, an institution saved by Madrid in 2012 with public resources of 22 billion, the acquisition "increases the ability to repay the aid received", said the president Josè Ignacio Goirigolzarri, who is also the former CEO of BBVA.
Bankia is expected to be reprivatized in 2019. Following today's announcement, the Spanish bank's stock is up more than 2% on the Madrid Stock Exchange.
