Criteria Plans to Sell 50% of Vidacaixa to Cut Debt

Criteria Caixacorp SA will sell 50 percent of its non-life insurance unit Vidacaixa-Adeslas to La Mutua Madrilena for 1.08 billion euros ($1.4 billion) to reduce debt and increase its cash reserves.

Mutua Madrilena, one of Spain’s largest closely held insurers, is paying 1 billion euros of the total in cash, Criteria said today in a regulatory filing. The transaction, which will create a non-life insurance joint venture, will probably be completed in the third quarter, Criteria said.