Link Securities | On Wednesday, the European Commission gave Banco Santander (SAN) the green light to sell approximately 49% of its subsidiary in Poland to Austria’s Erste Group after confirming that the transaction does not raise competition concerns, according to a statement released by the institution, as reported by the newspaper Expansión.
Following the transaction, which amounts to approximately €6.8 billion and also includes 50% of the asset management business in the country for around €200 million, the Austrian group will take exclusive control of the entity. For its part, Santander will hold approximately 13% of the capital of Santander Polska, reports Efe.
Santander’s Polish subsidiary is the result of a merger between Bank Zachodni and Wielkopolski Bank in 2001, the same year it made its debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. At the end of last year, it had 11,038 employees and a network of 368 branches in Poland, a country that contributed €800 million to Santander’s profits in 2024.
