Spanish banking giant Santander said on December 07 it had agreed to sell its units in Colombia to Chile's CorpBanca for $1.225 billion (910 million euros) which it will use to strengthen its balance sheet. The sale of Banco Santander Colombia and several other smaller group subsidiaries in the Latin American country will generate capital gains of 615 million euros for Santander, the bank said in a statement.
Santander, the eurozone's biggest bank by market value, aims to boost its top-tier capital ratio to 10 percent by June 30 of next year without government help. The new recapitalisation target is higher than the 9.0 percent required by the European Banking Authority.
Santander's units in Colombia posted a net profit of 54 million euros last year, accounting for just 0.5 percent of the group's overall profit.
Santander detains 67 percent of the share capital of Banco Santander Chile following the transaction.
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