Spanish insurers Mapfre and Mutua Madrilena said on Saturday they would invest in the country's bad bank, which opened its doors on Friday, in a sign of private sector support key to the project. The two insurers did not say whether they would directly inject capital or buy debt. Mapfre said it would invest 50 million euros ($65 million) in the bad bank, while Mutua Madrilena said it would put up 30 million euros.

The government wants its stake in the bad bank, created as a condition of receiving up to 100 billion euros in European aid for its crippled financial sector, to be below 50 percent to reduce the burden on state coffers. Lenders will transfer toxic property assets dating from a real estate crash five years ago to the bad bank, known as Sareb. Spain's biggest lender Santander has already said it will invest in the bad bank. The country's fifth-biggest bank Sabadell said on Friday it would also participate.

Copyright Reuters, 2012