Shares in Spanish lender Popular dive after bank announces cash call

News that Spanish lender Banco Popular was set to go cap in hand to investors for fresh capital sent the stock crashing on Thursday.

Banco Popular Espanol SA will raise €2.5bn at a price of €1.25 each, well below the previous session´s closing level of €2.36, the lender said in a regulatory filing.

Management´s aim was to clear €15bn of real estate assets linked to the last property crash from its balance sheet by 2018 and pave the way for a return to cash dividends from 2017.

As of 08:34 BST shares in the madrid-base dlender were down by 23.5% to €1.80.