Nordea’s Biggest Shareholder Steps Up Its Exit From Bank

(Bloomberg) -- The biggest shareholder in Nordea Bank Abp is offloading another chunk of its stake as it moves ahead with a planned exit from the Nordic region’s largest bank.

Sampo Oyj is offering as many as 162 million shares in Nordea to institutional investors, according to a statement on Tuesday. The shares offered represent 4% of the bank, which would cut Sampo’s holding to 11.9% from the roughly 16% it had before the transaction.

The divestment has been on the cards since November, though Sampo only made clear last week it was intending to sell the entire holding, due in part to a Finnish tax quirk. As a result, Sampo will offload all its shares in the bank within 12 months of its stake dropping below 10%.

Sampo has faced pressure from activist investor Elliott Management Corp., which said earlier this year the Finnish insurer could free up as much as $10 billion in shareholder value by disposing of the Nordea stake.

Nordea’s Biggest Shareholder Says It’s Planning Total Exit

According to Sampo’s balance sheet, the Nordea shares were valued at 4.9 billion euros ($6 billion), corresponding to 7.68 euros per share, at the end of March. The shares sold in November fetched 7.25 euros a piece.

Sampo has said it plans to focus on property and casualty insurance, after admitting it underestimated how profitability in the bank sector would be burdened by interest rates remaining so low for so long. It also pointed to regulatory pressures as a factor that has weighed on bank stocks.

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