Portugal's Novo Banco aims for IPO, wants end of dividend ban

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's fourth-largest bank Novo Banco wants to remain independent and is targeting an initial public offering (IPO), which should ideally be preceded by the lifting of a ban on dividend payouts, CEO Mark Bourke told Reuters on Thursday.

He said the bank's results had consistently shown that it is operationally prepared for an IPO, but there are still some steps to be taken at the balance sheet level.

"An independent bank is our base scenario and the proof is in two and a half years of performance ... an IPO is the one way that you do that and that you control the narrative and delivery," he added.

Novo Banco, which is overcapitalised, wants the ban on distributing dividends to shareholders, which is in force until the end of 2025, to be removed

"It makes sense because if you're IPOing a bank or anything like that, you wouldn't get value for excess capital. So, what you need is the normalised balance sheets," he said.

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by Andrei Khalip)