Deals
Santander’s Botin Takes on Crippled Lender in Her Riskiest Bet
- Purchase of Popular signals bolder approach by chairman
- Banks had been called in to look Popular over weeks ago
Santander's Botin Says No Pressure to Do Popular Deal
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As dawn broke in Madrid on Wednesday, Ana Botin embarked on the boldest move of her almost three-year tenure as chairman of Banco Santander SA, Spain’s largest bank.
Botin, better known for accumulating capital and emphasizing internal growth than doing deals, took a page from her late father’s playbook. She agreed to acquire failing Banco Popular Espanol SA for the knockdown price of 1 euro, while absorbing the 37 billion euros ($42 billion) of non-performing assets that laid its rival low.