Santander is selling all its Colombian
businesses, including Banco Santander Colombia, to CorpBanca of
Chile.
The sale of Santander’s Colombian operations
has been valued at €910m ($1.225 bn). Santander has said it will
gain €615m from the sale.
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Chairman of Banco Santander, Emilio Botín,
said, “Our market share in retail and commercial banking in
Colombia is far from the 10% we aim for in the countries in which
we have a presence.”
CorpBanca is Chile’s fourth-largest private
bank with a market share of 7.5% for loans and 7.2% for deposits on
31 October.
Banco Santander Colombia’s market share is
2.7% in lending and deposits, with about €2.1 bn and €3.2 bn,
respectively.
Santander has the staff strength of
approximately 1,400, and 78 branches in Columbia.
The transaction – expected to close during the
first half of 2012 – is subject to regulatory approvals.
