Link Securities | Banco Santander (SAN), through its office subsidiary Uro Property, has assumed costs of €120 million to settle the lawsuit it had been involved in since 2022 with the creditors of its subsidiary, according to the newspaper Expansión.
In 2020, the bank took control of Uro and contributed more than €1 billion to cancel the debt of the real estate company. Following this, Uro’s former bondholders also claimed the payment of an additional premium of €250 million, which Santander refused to pay. Following the bank’s refusal, the bondholders sued Santander in the British courts and blocked the debt guarantees: more than 630 of the bank’s branches in Spain, as well as the income generated by their rental.
After three years of legal disputes, Santander and Uro’s bondholders signed an agreement earlier this year to end the lawsuit. Santander, through Uro, has recorded an estimated expense of €120 million in relation to the litigation with the bondholders and the out-of-court settlement, which includes compensation for the early repayment of the debt and the costs and services arising from the modification of the bond terms.
