Spain's Caixabank to cut stake in Telefonica to about 3.5% from 4.5%

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Caixabank will cut its stake in Spanish telecom company Telefonica to 3.495% from a current 4.495% after partly settling an equity swap, the bank said on Friday.

"Within the context of an existing equity swap of 1.952% for its 4.495% stake in Telefonica, (Caixabank) has decided to partly settle such equity swap by delivering 1% to the counterpart (or investors) to be settled on Oct 4, 2022," the bank said.

"There is no intention to divest our entire stake (...), the equity swap is part of our risk management," a Caixabank spokesperson said.

The lender did not disclose the amount of the transaction but a 1% stake in Telefonica is worth around 192 million euros ($187.74 million) based on Friday's closing price.

This transaction is expected to have no meaningful impact on the bank's bottom line or its solvency, Caixabank said.

($1 = 1.0227 euros)

(Reporting by Jesús Aguado, editing by Inti Landauro)