The Spanish multinational financial company Banco Santander SA has signed an agreement to acquire the British division of Banco Sabadell SA for 2.65 billion pounds ($3.63 billion). This is reported in a press release from Santander.
The combined company will serve 28 million customers in the UK by adding 218 branches and deposits worth 35 billion pounds to Santander's network in the UK, which includes 349 branches and customer deposits worth 183 billion pounds.
The deal will provide cost savings of 400 million pounds (13% of the base costs of the two creditors). The combined bank will become the UK's third largest bank in terms of current accounts of individuals and the fourth largest in terms of mortgage loans, allowing Santander to conduct retail operations in the UK along with NatWest Group Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Barclays Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc.
The deal is subject to approval by regulators and Sabadell shareholders, while Santander intends to pay an extraordinary dividend of 2.6 billion euros.
In 2015, Sabadell acquired TSB for 1.7 billion pounds ($2.3 billion), but faced difficulties as part of a technological upgrade that led to prolonged service disruptions and regulatory fines.
From Sabadell's point of view, the sale of TSB could prevent a hostile takeover by a rival company, BBVA SA.
BBVA applied to acquire Sabadell for $13 billion in May 2024, bypassing the company's management amid Sabadell's board's refusal to consider BBVA's proposal. The application has provoked opposition from politicians, trade unions and business groups, as well as Sabadell management, who believe that the proposal does not meet the best interests of the company and underestimates the potential and growth prospects.
In early June 2025, the leadership of the European Union called on the Spanish government to assist the Spanish financial company Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA SA) in acquiring Banco Sabadell SA, as the Spanish government announced a review of the deal that could stop the merger of BBVA and Sabadell.
On June 25, the Spanish government granted permission for the merger if the two banks carry out separate operations for at least three or five years.
Barclays is one of the largest British financial conglomerates with extensive presence in Europe, the USA and Asia. Operations are carried out through a subsidiary of Barclays Bank PLC, which is the UK's second largest bank in terms of assets.
Banco Santander is a Spanish multinational company in the financial sector. The headquarters is located in Santander (Spain) with an office in Madrid.
BBVA is a Spanish multinational financial services company with headquarters in Madrid and Bilbao (Spain). BBVA is the second largest bank in Spain after Banco Santander with offices in Portugal, Mexico, South America, Turkey, Italy and Romania. BBVA's market capitalization is estimated at 60 billion euros ($64 billion).
Banco de Sabadell is a Spanish financial company with headquarters in Alicante (Spain). Sabadell is the flagship company of the banking group with branches in the UK (TSB) and Mexico. The company is focused on private clients, as well as small and medium-sized businesses. Sabadell is currently the fifth largest bank in Spain. Sabadell's market capitalization is 10 billion euros.
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