Billionaire Alvaro Saieh is close to finalizing a merger deal for Chile's CorpBanca , in which he has a controlling stake, two sources with knowledge of the deal told Reuters, with Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria and Brazil's Itau Unibanco Holding SA the frontrunners. CorpBanca said last week that it was studying a possible merger with a local or foreign bank. The deal could be worth about $5 billion, a report said.The bidders are looking to purchase a stake that is big enough to allow for control of the bank, one source said.Local media reports said that Saieh, who according to Reuters data owns a 55 percent controlling stake in CorpBanca, is keen to remain as co-controller of the merged bank.Saieh, who controls CorpBanca via the wider CorpGroup, has been seeking to raise cash since an accounting error led his SMU retail company to breach debt covenants earlier this year.
Itau Unibanco Holding SA is a Brazil-based holding active in the banking sector. Shares of ITUB fell by 0.52% or $-0.07/share to $13.31. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $11.38 and as high as $17.34. On average, 10336400 shares of ITUB exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2111728.
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