Santander rejected Natwest’s £ 11 million offer for UK unit

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Santander rejected an offer of about 11 million pounds for his United Kingdom retail bank of Natwest at the beginning of the year after the Spanish lender said that the offer was too low.

It Approach of the British lender supported by the Statewhich was advised by Morgan Stanley and UBS, no longer lives, according to the people who know the subject.

Since then, Santander has raised € 7 million from the sale of a Great participation in your Polish unit this weekcausing any sale of your British unit to be less likely. The Spanish lender said he would redirect some of the income of the selling of stakes to invest in his other regions, as he accelerates a strategic pivot away from Europe in the Americas.

Natwest’s approach-which would have led to the largest banking agreement in the United Kingdom since the financial crisis-comes when the British lender climbed to aggressively expand to its national market after the United Kingdom government sells the last of its crisis participation of £ 46 million, which is expected in the coming weeks.

Paul Thwaite, the bank’s CEO, said before that he was on the “frontal foot” when it were acquisitions. He said that any purchase “must be absolutely convincing from the perspective of shareholders.”

Natwest made an “more than 10 million pounds, but less than £ 12” for Santander UK, according to people who know the offer.

The UK subsidiary of Santander, which includes commercial and commercial banking, had a total of 10.4 million pounds at the end of last year, according to group accounts, a metric that widely reflects the market value of the business.

In the meantime, the price agreed to its Polish unit equated 2.2 times the value of the tangible book of this business, a considerably higher assessment than that of the global group.

The bank also previously rejected a “low ball” offer for its United Kingdom RingfENED unit of Barclays last year, reported the Financial Times previously.

The Spanish group, which recently became the most valuable bank in continental Europe, is reducing in some European countries to release resources to expand in the Americas in a momentum led by its executive president Ana Botín. This has included a push in the United States, where it has launched an aggressive expansion of its corporate and investment bank.

“We want to be a relevant bank in the United States,” said Jose Garcia Cantera, director of Santander, last month.

In the meantime, the bank has reduced the United Kingdom count, announcing more than 2,000 work cuts since last October as part of plans to reduce costs and close branches. As an accounting in the United Kingdom and has 14 million customers.

The group had been frustrated with the high -cost base of the United Kingdom unity and its weakest yields regarding some of the lender’s other markets, as well as the Ringfence regime in Britain, reported the FT. The Spanish bank has explored several options for its UK business, including leaving the market completely.

A person who knew the bank said that the potential suitors should return with a “great offer to make sense” for Santander to unload his Ringfed Bank of the United Kingdom, given his execution of the sale of Polish stakes.

Santander said: “As we have said, the United Kingdom is not for sale and it is a fundamental part of the Santander diversified business model.”

Natwest refused to make comments.

Additional Reports of Ivan Levingston in London