After a four-month boardroom battle that captivated Portugal’s business community, Banco Comercial Português chairman Jorge Jardim Gonçalves prevailed over his bitter rival, CEO Paulo Teixeira Pinto, thanks to the support of a competitor, chief executive Fernando Ulrich of Banco BPI. The outcome could pave the way for a friendly merger between BCP, the country’s largest private lender, and BPI.
The rift at BCP opened after Teixeira Pinto’s hostile billion ($7.5 billion) takeover offer for BPI failed in May. Gonçalves, 71, responded by trying to assert greater control over his CEO and to bolster BCP’s takeover defenses; Teixeira Pinto countered by asking shareholders to abolish the bank’s supervisory board -- and with it Gonçalves. The CEO failed to win enough support, however, after BPI, which had built up an 8.9 percent stake in BCP as part of its defense, sided with Gonçalves. Teixeira Pinto resigned at the end of August, and Filipe Pinhal, BCP’s retail boss, assumed his post.
Teixeira Pinto’s departure sharply increases the likelihood of a friendly deal between BCP and BPI,” says Jagoba Garcia, a banking analyst with Fox-Pitt, Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller in London.
