Banco Santander to Buy Back 50% Stake in its Asset-Management Unit
November 16 2016 - 1:36PM
Dow Jones News
By Jeannette Neumann and Simon Clark
MADRID -- Banco Santander SA has agreed to buy back the 50%
stake in its asset-management unit that it sold to two
private-equity firms in 2013.
Santander said the sale by Warburg Pincus LLC and General
Atlantic would allow the bank to have full control of the asset
manager's EUR170 billion of assets under management. Santander had
sold the stake to both firms 3 1/2 years ago in a transaction that
valued the unit at EUR2 billion.
Santander didn't disclose on Wednesday in a regulatory filing
how much it would pay Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic to take
full ownership of the asset manager.
Santander said it expects a negative impact of 11 basis points
to its core Tier 1 capital ratio by the end of this year. Analysts
have said Santander's buyback makes sense as the company steps up
its focus on generating more fees on asset management products as
European banks confront low interest rates and slack demand for
loans.
Santander also said that Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic had
agreed to work on the sale of their stakes in Allfunds Bank, SA, an
investment fund platform.
Allfunds is 50% owned by Santander Asset Management and 50% by
Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo SpA. Santander said the bank and its
partners are considering a sale or an initial public offering of
Allfunds. Intesa also confirmed Wednesday that it is weighing a
sale of its Allfunds stake.
The Wall Street Journal had reported that Santander was in talks
to buy back a 50% stake in its asset-management unit on Nov. 2.
Write to Jeannette Neumann at jeannette.neumann@wsj.com and
Simon Clark at simon.clark@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 16, 2016 13:21 ET (18:21 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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