By JIGGSLAW®. The award of the arbitration, initiated by Mapfre at the end of 2021 due to discrepancies with the value of the market assigned to the Bankia Life business, will not be known until the first semester of 2023. This was communicated by Fernando Mata, financial director of Mapfre, in the financial statement presentation for the 2022 third semester, and it is stated as follows in the document:
MAPFRE and CAIXA agreed to arbitrate their dispute over whether MAPFRE should receive an additional 10% of the value of the partnership’s Life and No Life business under the agreed-upon contractual terms. This additional 10% would be 52 million euros according to Oliver Wyman’s valuation, though the amount may change depending on the outcome of the valuation proceeding. The arbitration began following the conclusion of the previous 2021 exercise and is expected to conclude in the early months of 2023.
Mata, who expects a favorable outcome for Mapfre, confirmed that a more feasible expectation is that the award will be known in the early months of 2023 as opposed to the fourth quarter of 2022
The 52 million-euro arbitration claim was brought before the Madrid Chamber of Commerce’s Arbitration Court.
According to inside information sent to the Spanish Financial Conduct Authority (CNMV in Spanish) on December 29, 2021 (source: Infobolsa), the insurer disputes Bankia Life’s valuation of the CaixaBank sale because, “according to signed agreements, Mapfre’s right to receive an additional 10% of the value of Life and No Life businesses is subject to arbitration if the end of the partnership created by the merger with Bankia implies an alleged change of ownership, which gives Mapfre a right to receive 120% of the value instead of 110% as alleged by CAIXABANK because it considers the merger as an extension of Bankia’s network.”
