Primary markets: Santander finds ethics shorted

The credit crisis has, so far, raised Santander’s relative standing among its peers, as the Spanish bank has sidestepped some of the pitfalls of its rivals and picked up a few bargain acquisitions. The bank’s reputation for savvy deal-making has also been enhanced, making it surely one of the most sought after financial sector clients for any investment bank.

As a result when Santander this November announced that it would bow to investor pressure and raise capital to lift its tier 1 ratio to 7% from 6.3% through a €7.2 billion rights issue to be completed by the end of the month, many leading investment banks rushed to say that they would be willing to commit capital at a 35% discount if they were appointed as bookrunners on the transaction.

Yet as the market digested the news and the bank’s share price fell 3%, the bank found that some of the investment banks that had only very recently indicated their willingness to commit capital at a 35% discount were turning down offers to act as bookrunners on the deal even though the discount had been widened to 40%.

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