Spain’s biggest lender, Santander, is to acquire the 173
German-based branches of Sweden’s SEB in a deal worth around €555
million ($695.7 million).
The SEB branches serve around 1 million customers and will
complement Santander’s existing German network of 176 branches.
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According to Santander, the SEB German retail unit has loans
outstanding of around €8.5 billion (82% of which are mortgages) and
deposits of €4.6 billion.
The acquisition is expected to close in 2011 subject to the
relevant regulatory approvals.
Santander’s German-based retail arm has focused on consumer
finance, in particular auto finance and providing loans for
consumer durables.
With total customer loans of €22.3 billion at the end of 2009
serving 6 million customers, the unit has a market share of 14% of
installment loans in Germany.
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By GlobalData“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,” said Santander chairman
Emilio Botín.
Losses narrowed at SEB’s German retail unit in the second
quarter of fiscal 2010 to SEK103 million ($13.7 million) from
SEK237 million in the first quarter. In fiscal 2009, the division
reported a loss in each quarter for a full year loss of SEK1.25
billion.
