Santander Sells $634-Million Stake in Polish Subsidiary

By Adam Whittaker

Banco Santander said that it is selling a 575 million-euro ($633.6 million) stake in its Polish subsidiary, Santander Bank Polska.

The Spanish bank said late Tuesday that it is selling a 5.2% stake in Santander Bank Polska, after which it will hold a 62.2% interest, with proceeds from the sale expected to be used to pursue organic growth opportunities and additional share buy-backs.

Santander plans to place 5.3 million shares in the business at 463 Polish zloty ($119.19) each, a 7.9% discount to Santander Bank Polska's closing price of 502.80 zloty on Tuesday.

The sale should be completed on Friday, Santander said.

The sale will increase Santander Bank Polska's free-float, enhance the liquidity of the stock and increase its weight in the relevant stock indices, Santander said.

After the share sale, Santander said it would remain a long-term majority shareholder as it seeks to achieve its strategic targets for 2024-2026, which include being a top three bank in Poland by return on equity and Net-Promoter-Score.

Write to Adam Whittaker at adam.whittaker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 11, 2024 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)

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