Spain’s largest bank Santander announced on Monday that it has acquired the German division of Swedish SEB for retail banking, marking another step towards its goal of providing a full range of banking services to citizens in Germany.
The transaction, valued at 555 million euros, further confirms Santander’s efforts to expand its presence in Europe, particularly in Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as in high-growth Latin American markets, where it reportedly plans acquisitions in Colombia and Peru. "Germany is a core market for Santander. This new acquisition is a significant step towards achieving our goal of becoming a bank that provides all services related to this sector to citizens in Europe," said Santander’s CEO Emilio Botin in the bank’s statement. The value of the transaction is close to the forecasts of well-informed sources who estimated it at 500 million euros. Santander recorded an operational loss of 117 million euros last year. The bank announced that due to the acquisition, its capital adequacy ratio will decrease by one-tenth of a percentage point. Recently, the London financial newspaper The Financial Times quoted a statement from Santander’s Latin America business leader Francisco Luzon that the bank aims to expand its presence in Colombia and Peru, where its market share currently ranges between 10 and 20 percent. (H)
