Santander agrees to acquire SEB’s German arm for €555m
SPANISH bank Santander consolidated its full service operation in Germany with the acquisition of the retail banking division of Sweden’s SEB, the bank said yesterday.
The €555m (£465m) deal comes as the Eurozone’s number one bank by market capitalisation attempts to increase its footprint in Europe’s biggest economy at a time when the retail banking sector is in a state of flux. “Germany is a core market for Santander. This acquisition is a significant step toward achieving our goal of being a full service retail bank in Europe’s largest market,” chairman Emilio Botin said in the bank’s press release. The purchase price is close to what it had previously been reported Santander would pay for SEB’s German retail division, which made an operating loss of €117m in 2009. The acquisition includes 173 branches serving more than 1m customers in Germany. The impact on Santander’s financial position is relatively small with the bank saying its core capital ratio could fall by ten basis points from the acquisition. SEB will book a net loss of €240m in 2010 results with an overall negative impact of €320m, the Swedish group said.