Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) will close the year of dividends, as is tradition, on December 30 with the payment of 0.60 euros gross per share, which at current prices yields 1.7%. This is, in principle, the only payment that could be deducted from the purchase offer launched by Six, the manager of the Swiss Stock Exchange, with . “The price offered will be adjusted downward to 33.4 euros per title,” Six pointed out in the relevant fact of its takeover bid sent to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).
But there is another assumption, which cannot be ruled out, in the face of the possibility that a takeover war will open to gain control of the Spanish company. If this occurs, and the battle continues beyond the month of May, BME will return, in principle, to remunerating the shareholder with the last of the dividends charged to the 2019 accounts with 0.57 euros gross, according to the forecast from Bloomberg, and this payment should be deducted, following this same rule, from the 34 euros offered by Six.
However, this last payment is not yet confirmed. The consensus of analysts considers that the manager will maintain his remuneration in line with that of 2018 -in total, at 1.57 euros-, which was the lowest since 2006, without taking into account that the corporate operation with Six goes ahead.
The takeover bid launched by the Swiss manager shot up the BME price in the first week, which reached 36 euros, the highest in 2015, and then oscillated between 35.25 and 35.5 euros in the last two weeks -it is a fork in which it has been possible to gain 0.7 points-. And the 39% profit of the national manager since Six publicly put its offer on the table is what has led BME’s dividend yield to its lowest (also) in the last four years. The return of its three payments stands at 4.47%, according to Bloomberg, an area that it has not touched since the summer of 2015. On average since then, the dividend of the firm led by Javier Hernani has yielded a return of 6.25 %.
What is the future of payments
At the moment, Six’s takeover bid is awaiting approval, firstly, from the Government, and then from the CNMV, a process that could take until February. If the green light is achieved, Six must present a definitive prospectus in which it includes what its dividend policy will be. Close sources acknowledge that “it is a point that is being discussed at this time.”
If the operation is successful – it must be approved by 50% of the shares plus one – up to 49% of BME shareholders may remain who choose to retain their shares. Would they collect the May payment then? Six has no intention of delisting BME, but has not yet revealed its shareholder remuneration plans.
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