Santander doubles in the presence of the UK among the bank upheavals of Spain

In one step, Santander The months of speculation was silent over its loyalty to the British high-street and complicated long-standing consolidation saga in the Spanish banking sector.

On Tuesday the largest in Spain the lender – Note He agreed to buy British High Street TSB lender for 2.65 billion pounds (3.6 billion dollars) in Catalonia Sabadel in transactions on all over approval. The transaction brings profit from the invested capital by more than 20%, which will lead to a revenue for sensitive capital in the UK from 11% last year to 16% to 2028, Santander said.

The acquisition was at the heart of the British expansion of Santander after it entered the market in 2004 through the purchase of a national abbey. But the profitability of the UK branch has fallen-with a profit before tax Last year by 38% -The outpatient issues about the long -term presence of Santander in Britain. The announcement of March Potential layoffs and 95 closure of the branch have lowered rumors, despite frequent refusals to CEO Ana Botin.

“We have never thought to leave the UK, the UK is very important to us,” said Santandander Jose Garcia Kanter, Chief Financial Director on Wednesday. “This is actually the biggest balance of all countries (where) we work. This is a high quality low -risk business, predictable profitability, firm currency, in sterling, and it helps stabilize our risk profile.”

He added that the UK “has always been a very important and main component of Santander’s diversification strategy.”

Meanwhile, the acquisition of the TSB “not only makes sense strategically, as I said, the UK helps in our risks return profile, but also financially very convincing.”

The deal can work as a defensive game Sabadell, which took over TSB only with Lloyds in 2015 and seeks to stop the application for the absorption of Spanish peers BBVA. Two banks have been closed since Sabadel rejected The initial proposal of the BBVA All-Share last May based on its underestimation of the purchase target.

Now fixed in a potential 14 billion hostile absorption, BBVA has decided to keep your application live Despite the recent condition from the Spanish government, the absorption can only continue if two banks do not integrate at least three years.

During this period, “both legal entities support (should) (should) a separate judicial identity and assets, as well as autonomy in managing their activities,” said Spanish economist Carlos Kuerpo during the press briffing, CNBC reports.

“It is important that the consolidation of the banking sector can occur without excessive and inappropriate obstacle,” said Olaf Gill, a press secretary of the European Financial Services Commission, According to Reuters. Spain’s antitrust watchman has already cleared the acquisition.

It remains to find out if the sale of TSB by the BBVA Chairman Carlos Torres Villa, the appetite to press forward by submitting the Sabadel’s offer as soon as permits.

RBC analysts on Wednesday estimated that the acquisition of the Santander TSB “seems to be the last main effort to persuade shareholders (Sabadell) does not accept the BBVA’s offer during the future reception” and will probably complicate the “BBVA.”

“We are completely neutral as a result of the Sabadell-BBVA transaction,” said CNBC Santander Garcia Cantera. “This is an asset that becomes available in one of the countries where we work and our trust duty to look at all these opportunities and try to do everything we can for our shareholders.”

However, he acknowledged that the competition in the Spanish banking is now “probably the most violent in Europe,” citing the weak domestic mortgage price.

“I don’t think it will make banking activity in Spain more comfortable. Probably the other way around,” Garcia Kentter said.