AstraZeneca injects hope
Nigeria clears the decks
Big bet pays off for Fortis
GCA reaches out to buy US peer
Maxis maxes out
Mexico motors on local-currency deal
Bovespa floats on the wave it made
| Deal: €9 billion sale of Banca Antonveneta Acquirer: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (lead adviser: Merrill Lynch) Seller: Santander (financial adviser: NM Rothschild) Date: November 2007 |
|
|
| Emilio Botín, Santander: even the great dealmaker surpassed himself |
Banking is about making deals. In 2007, one deal caught the attention of the market more than any other: the battle for Dutch banking group ABN Amro.
A consortium of Royal Bank of Scotland, Fortis and Santander scuppered the initially preferred bidder, Barclays, with a combined bid of about €70 billion. As financial markets collapsed after the sub-prime crisis, many began to wonder whether the loser, Barclays, by missing out on ABN Amro at a now inflated price, was actually the winner.
But few doubt that the real victors in the battle for ABN were the street-smart dealmakers at Santander. And the Spanish bank’s coup was to recoup €9 billion of its €19.9 billion spend on its share of ABN’s assets while keeping hold of the key asset, strengthening its balance sheet and leaving its acquisitive management room to pursue future opportunities should they arise.