UPDATE: Santander Seeks To Issue 143.4 Million Shares For A&L Buy
Wednesday August 20th, 2008 / 11h07
(Adds merger plans, company scope) MADRID -(Dow Jones)- Spanish banking giant Banco Santander SA (STD) said Wednesday it will seek approval from shareholders to issue 143.4 million new ordinary shares which it later plans to exchange for shares in Alliance & Leicester PLC (AL.LN). In a regulatory filing, Santander said it also plans to distribute 100 shares to each A&L employee as a bonus once the proposed purchase of the U.K. bank has been completed. The share issue amounts to rougly 2.3% of Santander's shares outstanding, and will be voted on at an extraordinary shareholder meeting Sept. 22 in the city of Santander. In the filing, Santander said the new shares would have a par value of EUR0.5 and an issuance premium that will be determined by the board of directors, which will be between a minimum of EUR8 and a maximum EUR11.23 a share. At 0941 GMT, Santander's shares were trading flat at EUR11.53 in Madrid. Santander has 6.25 billion shares outstanding, and a current market capitalization of EUR72.1 billion. The bank, the biggest in the euro zone by market value, recently agreed to buy Alliance & Leicester for GBP1.3 billion. The deal has been recommended by A&L's board. Once the takeover of A&L is completed, Santander plans to merge it with Abbey, the U.K. mortgage lender it bought in 2004. Earlier this week, Santander said it expects the takeover of A&L to be completed around Oct. 10. -By Christopher Bjork, Dow Jones Newswires, +34 91 395 81 23, christopher.bjork@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=17jN%2BY%2BLk7RqyXnxJNeFvw%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
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