Santander: Emilio Botin wins Again

The Art of turning a threat into an opportunity: Samurai Emilio Botin rides again.

When a few months ago Botin reafirmed that its tender offer to buy ABN was firm, I was in disbelief the offer was still good. The roaring of recent sharp declines in the prices of all banks in global stock markets still echoing. How is that possible that the offer is still good if the ABN is now worth at least 20-25% less?, I thought. As the tripartite bank maintained the original tender (with Don Emilio at the helm). At the Royal Bank of Scotland and Fortis they were having a bad digestion – and their shares continue to fall. Santander instead just announced that it has sold the Italian bank Antonveneta, gaining about €2,400 million. This allows the Santander to cancel the proposed capital increase and have resources for new operations.

Furthermore, using the excuse of the ABN operation Santander has put up for sale all buildings in Spain (all but the historic headquarters of Santander in order to prevent an angry grandfather Botin rest in peace) without sounding any alarm bells that would be perceived as negative by the Spanish real estate market.

“Fire tends to rise, water tends to drop” – Traditional FengSui saying

translated from original