Win some, lose some

Hot on the heels of our having mentioned something about the security of the Santander dividend, the number two Spanish bank BBVA has announced that they will be funding the next portion of their 44 cent, 7 percent payout via a dilution equal to 1.78 percent. The stock up 5 percent on the day of the announcement.

One outfit that has decided to not compete in that league is Loterías y Apuestas del Estado. The government yesterday decided to cancel the much-awaited IPO of the Spanish state-owned lottery company - what would have been the second largest public offering of the year in the world, according to Victor Mallet. General market conditions accompanied by a veiled threat on the part of the soon-to-be-governing Partido Popular to rectify what they claim is a bad decision combined to generate investor interest that indicated that receipts from the operation would fall 40 percent short of Elena Salgado's expectations.

Probably a missed opportunity. How often does one come across a cash cow like this paying out 95 percent of profits - and distributing them on what was reported to be a monthly basis?

As an aside, Rodrigo Rato's decision to forge ahead with the Bankia IPO last July, despite the predictably less than stellar results, now looks prescient.

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