Banco Santander has agreed to sell 49% of Santander Polska to Erste group for approximately 6,800 million euros and 50% of its asset management business in Poland (TFI) that Santander Polska does not control for about 200 million euros, which adds a total amount of about 7,000 million euros, as reported early today the bank chaired by Ana Botín, to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). The action answers with 1% increases in the opening.
The confirmation of this operation comes only a few days after the CEO of Banco Santander, Héctor Grisi, cool the possibilities that the entity sells most of the participation in its Polish business. “There is no certainty that the conversations will reach an agreement,” he said during the company’s results in Wednesday, although he admitted that the entity had established negotiations with the Austrian bank Erste for a potential sale.
The operation, entirely in cash, will be carried out at a price of 584 Zlotys per share, which the bank values in 2.2 times its tangible accounting value per share at the end of the first quarter of 2025, excluding the announced dividend of 46.37 zlotys per action, and 11 times the benefit of 2024. In addition, it represents a 7.5% premium compared to the price closing price of Santander Polska. May 2025, excluding the dividend, and 14% compared to the average price weighted by volume of the last six months. The actions of Santander Polska will quote ex-dividend on May 12, 2025.
After the operation, Santander will have approximately 13% of the capital of Santander Polska and intends to acquire the entire Santander Consumer Bank Polska before closing through the purchase of 60% currently in the hands of Santander Polska.
The entity explains that the closure of these operations, which is expected around 2025, will generate a net surplus value of 2,000 million euros for Santander, which will mean an increase of about 100 basic points in the CET1 capital ratio of the group, equivalent to about 6.4 billion euros, and will place the CET1 capital ratio proforma around 14%.
Strategic collaboration
Among the main shareholders of Santander Polska, in addition to Santander, there is Nationale Netherlanden or investment funds such as Goldman Sachs, Nordea or State Street.
The buyer, Erste Group, is one of the largest financial firms in Central Europe. It has its headquarters in Austria and, in addition to this country, it is present in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia or Croatia, among others. It has a stock market value of 25,000 million and more than 3% falls after the news. Its asset is 337,000 million and in 2024 it obtained a benefit of 3.12 million. In addition to the acquisition, Santander and Erste announce a strategic collaboration to take advantage of the capacities of both entities in Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), and to allow Erste to have access to the global Santander payment platforms, in line with the group’s strategy to become the best open financial services platform in the world.
In CIB, both Santander and Erste will take advantage of their respective regional strengths to offer local solutions and knowledge of their respective markets to their corporate and institutional clients through a reference model that will facilitate interactions with customers and an offer of agile services.
In addition, the Spanish financial entity will connect Erste customers with their global product platforms in the United Kingdom, Europe and America. Both entities will collaborate as preferred partners with the objective of building lasting, mutually beneficial relationships, which maximize joint business opportunities. In payments, the entities will explore opportunities for ERSTE, including Santander Polska after the closure of the operation, which will allow you to take advantage of Santander’s capabilities and infrastructure in this area, which includes its PAGONxt payments business.
Santander explains that the bank’s strategy is focused on generating sustainable value for clients and shareholders, through common platforms in each of its five global businesses, which allows to offer the best experience to the client with the lowest service cost and take advantage of the group’s network and its economies of scale.
Ana Botín, president of Banco Santander, considers that this “operation represents a key step in the Bank’s strategy to create value for the shareholder. We have planned to dedicate 50% of the amount (about 3.2 billion euros) to accelerate by the beginning of 2026 the execution of the extraordinary programs for repurchase of shares planned, in addition to possibly exceed regulatory ”.
