Investing.com -- Santander (BME: SAN ) has announced on Monday the sale of a 49% stake in Santander Polska to Erste Group Bank for a total cash consideration of €7 billion.

The all-cash transaction, which values the bank at 2.2 times its first quarter 2025 tangible book value per share, is priced at 584 zlotys per share.

In addition to the sale, Santander and Erste have agreed to a strategic cooperation to leverage each firm’s strengths and footprint in Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) and payments.

Following the transaction, Santander will retain a 13% ownership in Santander Polska and plans to acquire full ownership of Santander Consumer Bank Polska.

Santander also intends to distribute 50% of the capital released upon the transaction’s completion to accelerate its planned share buybacks, equivalent to approximately €3.2 billion.

As part of the deal, Santander will sell approximately 49% of Santander Polska’s share capital for €6.8 billion and 50% of the Polish Asset Management Business (TFI) that Santander Polska does not own for €0.2 billion.

The bank also plans to acquire a 60% stake in Santander Consumer Bank Polska owned by Santander Polska before the deal closes.

The transactions are expected to be completed by the end of 2025, potentially resulting in a net capital gain of approximately €2 billion for Santander.

The transaction is expected to be earnings per share accretive by 2027/2028 from the redeployment of capital through a combination of organic growth, share buybacks, and any bolt-on transactions.

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