Santander's U.S. holding to buy out rest of U.S. consumer unit for $2.36 bln
MADRID, July 2 (Reuters) - Santander's holding in the United States on Friday said it would buy a fifth of the shares it does not own in its U.S. consumer unit for around $2.4 billion, or $39 per share, in an all-cash deal.
The bank said in a statement the proposal would represent a 7.4% premium to Wednesday's closing price of $36.32 and a 30.4% premium to Santander Consumer's average share price since January 1, 2021.
SHUSA, which currently owns 80.25% of Santander Consumer, said it would wholly own its subsidiary after the deal.
The offer comes after its parent group Santander booked record earnings in the January to March period in the United States.
Santander's underlying profit from the United States jumped to 616 million euros in the first quarter from 60 million in the same period a year ago, making it the highest contributor among all its markets.
Results were boosted by its consumer business which benefited from a strong U.S. economic recovery and huge fiscal stimulus policies by the U.S. administration of president Joe Biden.
(Reporting by Sohini Podder in Bengaluru and Jesús Aguado in Madrid; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Louise Heavens)
