Shares in Spanish lender Popular dive after bank announces cash call

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.