OCU announces immediate commencement of legal action over the BANKIA flotation

OCU is to initiate immediately legal action to recover the money lost by the thousands of shareholders who participated in the initial public offering of shares (IPO) which led to the flotation of the company.

Shareholders who took part in the share issue in 2011, when the company went public with all the congratulations of the regulatory authorities, have lost all their money. After the opening of the session by Rodrigo Rato with the traditional bell on the Madrid trading floor, the share price went relentlessly down. Also, the reverse split, equally famous as misunderstood by savers and by the general public, seriously hurt the shareholders of Bankia (up to 99% of all their money) and involved presenting them with one new share for every 100 they already held.

Information about the IPO of Bankia is directly related to a brochure which did not reflect the reality of the bank; neither did the financial statements of Bankia reflect the true situation. Bankia shares went public in July 2011 at a price of 3.75 euros each, since the bank had indicated that its total assets at the end of 2011 were about 300 million euros, so the market value on the first day of trading was expected to be between 4.00 and 5.05 euros. But the harsh reality came when, on 25 May, 2012 the company declared technical bankruptcy with a black hole of 23,465 million euros, which necessitated the injection of public money from the state. Just 11 months after its opening fanfare, the company made it clear that their accounts did not correspond to the true value of the bank.

Following the publication of the report by the court experts in the Bankia case prepared for the National Court judge Fernando Andreu, it is clear that the company did not provide a true picture of the financial position of Bankia, which led to thousands of small shareholders investing their money in a trusted financial institution, a decision which most of them would not have taken had they known, as required by law, the real situation of the accounts. The experts explicitly and forcefully state in their report that "the financial statements BFA included in the prospectus did not reflect the real situation of the bank." One more step in the endless drama of Bankia, already shaken by the preference shares scandal and rescued by public money from tax payers.

OCU points out that this action is aimed at people who took part in the IPO in the summer of 2011 or bought shares up until the nationalisation of the bank.

Those affected can join this action which seeks the annulment of the process due to the incorrect information provided in the IPO; and to claim, in addition to money lost, interest on arrears.

http://www.ocu.org/dinero/nc/calculadora/accion-bankia

During the startup phase of the legal action, OCU recommends that those affected should gather together all possible documentation:

• Share application form
• Certificate of inheritance (if the original owner of the shares has died)
For further clarification regarding this legal action,  OCU   has made the following freephone number available to all concerned        900 901 334    (Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 18:00).

For more information (media) Eva Jimenez Tel. 917 226 061 prensa@ocu.org