Spain: Santander ‘rescues’ Banco Popular… for €1

The long-suffering Banco Popular, has been sold to global giant Banco Santander for the paltry sum of 1 euro, a symbolic amount that implies losses of 100% for the shareholders of the failed bank, while guaranteeing account holders’ deposits.

As a result of the transaction, “all the shareholders of Banco Popular Español S.A., as well as all the holders of convertible contingent bonds and subordinated bonds, have totally lost their investment,” said the supervisory body of the Spanish stock exchange, the CNMV. Among those shareholders are the Chilean family Luksic (3%) and the Mexican company Del Valle, which together with others owned 4.13% of the bank’s capital shares.

Following the merger, “the weakest link” is removed from the Spanish banking system, said Juan José Fernández-Figares, an analyst at Link Securities, who called the initiative “positive” for the Spanish banking sector, where “all listed entities are Now solid. ” For its part, the president of Santander, Ana Patricia Botín, defended the merger affirming that with it, Santander will make a “significant complement in what has always been the great strength of Banco Popular, the small and medium business “Where he leads.

Full Content: Zocalo

Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletterr for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.