Spain's BBVA sells US unit for $11.6 billion

MADRID: Spain's second-largest bank BBVA said Monday it has agreed to sell its US unit to PNC Financial Services for $11.6 billion (9.7 billion euros), a deal that will create the fifth-largest bank in the United States. The sale price is more than 2.5 times the average valuation of 3.8 billion euros assigned to BBVA's Houston-based unit, which accounted for less than 10 percent of BBVA's net profit last year, the Spanish lender said in a statement.

"This is a very positive transaction for all sides," BBVA executive chairman Carlos Torres Vila said in the statement.