Spain: Santander and Unicredit’s joint venture fails

Italian bank Unicredit has announced, in agreement with Spain’s Santander, to put an end to an agreement struck last November, which would have created a joint venture in asset management by merging their subsidiary businesses, Pioneer Investments and Santander Asset Management, respectively.

Unicredit, the largest bank in Italy, has said that “both parties had joined in-depth meetings aiming to find feasible solutions, which would satisfy the required regulatory demands in order to fulfill the transaction”

However, “due to the lack of a feasible solution in a reasonable time frame”, both parties have concluded that the best course of action is to put an end to their negotiations.

The merger between Santander and Unicredit’s asset management units would have created a European giant, managing assets worth over 400 billion euros. The project, first announced in April last year, had already received the go-ahead from the European Commission before falling apart.

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