On Sept. 1, Spain-based Caixabank announced that it has reached a formal agreement to acquire Barclays Bank PLC's Spanish subsidiary Barclays Bank S.A.U. for a total of €800 million. We believe that the impact of the acquisition on Caixabank's financial profile is likely to be limited. We are therefore affirming our 'BBB-/A-3' long- and short-term ratings on Caixabank. The outlook remains positive, reflecting the possibility that we could raise our ratings on Caixabank if the positive economic risk trend that we see for Spanish banks results in an improvement of our economic risk assessment for Spain. The unsolicited 'BB' long-term ratings on Caixabank's parent, La Caixa, remain on CreditWatch negative, where they were placed on April 14, 2014. MADRID (Standard
