Spanish banks: Sabadell turns the corner after equity triumph

Just as international institutional investors bought into the Spanish recovery story this summer, Sabadell caught the moment with a €1.4 billion equity deal to shore up its balance sheet and provide for future loan growth. Two Latin American billionaire cornerstone investors ensured the deal’s success and drew other investors’ attention away from the Spanish banking sector’s problems and towards its prospects.

For the finance officials of mid-tier Spanish banks, IMF-World Bank meetings of recent vintage have been stressful occasions for fielding endless questions from concerned regulators, creditors and investors about the Spanish economy, the trend in their own banks’ non-performing loans and their access to funding and capital.

Last month, Alberto Coll, deputy chief financial officer of Banco Sabadell, speaking to Euromoney on his return from Washington, still sounded a little shaken by his encounters at this year’s meetings.

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