Santander to sell around a 3.5% stake in Polish unit for $473m

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Spanish lender Santander is planning to sell around a 3.5% stake in its Polish subsidiary Santander Polska through an accelerated bookbuild process.

This transaction is valued at up to $473m, according to a Reuters report.

It follows an agreement in May this year to sell a 49% stake in its Santander Polska to Erste Group Bank for up to €6.8bn ($7.90bn).

The stake sale to Erste will leave Santander with around 13% ownership in Santander Polska and full ownership of Santander Consumer Bank Polska.

Santander plans for and accelerated placement of 3,576,626 ordinary shares of its Polish unit at 482 zlotys ($132.33) per share, retaining around a 9.7% stake after completion.

The remaining shares in its subsidiary will be subject to a 90-day post-closing lock-up period.

Santander said it will continue operating in the Polish market through Santander Consumer.

Citigroup Global Markets Europe and Goldman Sachs Bank Europe are serving as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the shareholders.

BofA Securities Europe is acting as joint global coordinator and joint bookrunner for Santander, while Bank Handlowy w Warszawie and Santander Brokerage Poland are serving as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for shareholders.

In addition to stake sale, Santander and Erste also announced a strategic cooperation to leverage each other’s strengths and experience in corporate and investment banking.

As part of this partnership, Erste will gain access to Santander’s global payments platforms.

In June this year, Santander Bank signed an agreement to divest seven branches in Pennsylvania, the US, to Community Financial System’s subsidiary Community Bank.

The sale of its branches was driven by its transformation into a national, digital-first bank.

In October, Santander announced the merger of its Santander Consumer Finance (SCF) with Openbank to create a single legal entity, operating under the Openbank brand.

Openbank and SCF are part of Santander’s Digital Consumer Bank (DCB) global business, and the move aims to streamline the company’s consumer finance operations in Europe.

"Santander to sell around a 3.5% stake in Polish unit for $473m" was originally created and published by Retail Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand.

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