Crédit Agricole of France was poised Monday to become the largest shareholder in Bankinter after agreeing to pay €809m ($1.18bn) for a 14.99% cent stake in Spain’s sixth-largest listed bank by assets. If approved, the acquisition will give the French bank a total 19.5% holding. There has been speculation for more than a year about the future of Bankinter, often cited by analysts as the most likely takeover target in Spain’s financial services sector. Bankinter’s conservative use of wholesale funding and well-balanced lending portfolio have made it less sensitive to Spain’s property downturn and the global credit squeeze than most other Spanish banks. Read more