Santander to Acquire Deutsche Bank's Polish Retail Banking Business for EUR305 Million

   By Marc Bisbal Arias 
 

Banco Santander SA (SAN.MC) and its Polish subsidiary Bank Zachodni WBK (BZW.WA) said Thursday that they have agreed to acquire Deutsche Bank Polska SA and DB Securities SA Poland from Deutsche Bank (DBK.XE) for 305 million euros ($360.5 million).

The acquisition is expected to close by the end of next year and is subject to regulatory approval.

Santander said the deal includes Deutsche Bank's retail and private-banking business in Poland, its small-and-medium enterprise business, asset-management arm and sales network--with 113 branches and about 1,500 employees. The acquired business has EUR4.4 billion in assets, with total loans of EUR4.3 billion and customer deposits of EUR2.51 billion as of June 30.

The deal doesn't include Deutsche Bank Polska's foreign-currency mortgage, Santander said.

"We have an outstanding business in Poland with the best mobile banking platform in the country," Santander Chairman Ana Botin said, adding that the Polish economy has been among the strongest in Europe and the bank sees significant potential to grow its business further in the coming years.

In a separate release, Deutsche Bank said that the transaction is in line with its effort to sharpen its focus and reduce complexity. It also said that it will continue to provide banking services to Polish and international corporate clients, financial institutions and government agencies.

Banco Santander expects the deal to deliver a return on investment of 15% by 2021 and have a positive impact on its earnings per share, with no material impact on its capital ratios.

Write to Marc Bisbal Arias at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 14, 2017 03:32 ET (08:32 GMT)

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