CB Auctions Banco de Chile Options

Chile’s central bank has priced a CLP24.35bn ($51.5m) notional-value sale of share options in Banco de Chile, according to the Santiago Bolsa. The 392.8m options to buy shares at CLP62 through July 4 represent the central bank’s preferential rights from Banco de Chile’s $180m equity follow-on in March. The options priced at CLP3.10 each. The central bank is a minority shareholder in Banco de Chile going back to a government intervention during a 1980s financial crisis, and had decided not to exercise its rights in the March sale. BanChile and LarrainVial managed the recent sale of options. Banco de Chile shares closed at CLP66.75 Tuesday. The CLP62 price matches the price of the 1.4bn share sale in March.