Santander has struck a deal to sell its entire stake in European platform Allfunds Bank.
According to a market update published today (7 March), Banco Santander has decided to sell its 25 per cent holding in Allfunds to private equity investor Hellman & Friedman and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC.
The Santander group estimated that the proceeds from the sale will amount to €470m (£408m), leading to a capital gain after taxes of around €300m (£260m).
This comes several months after the Spanish banking giant announced that is was selling half of its asset management arm to Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic.
Santander said the two agreements will have a positive impact on earnings per share by 2018 and will generate a return on invested capital.
Prolonged uncertainty around ownership might have put the brakes on the international expansion Rodolfo CrespoAllfunds Bank, which is used by businesses in 38 countries, is an open architecture platform with €250bn (£217bn) in assets under administration.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.
Hellman & Friedman and GIC are paying €1.8bn (£1.6bn) for Allfunds, which Platforum said made it the biggest global platform deal to-date.
Rodolfo Crespo, senior analyst at Platforum, said Allfunds' growth has been fuelled by an increasing demand for open architecture solutions in Europe.
"It will be interesting to see how the new owners support the next phase of Allfunds Bank’s growth strategy in an environment of platform consolidation and potentially disruptive regulation."
Last year, the platform said it was looking to grow further through acquisitions, so Mr Crespo said the new deal could help it gain more scale and carry on growing internationally.
"However, we expect to see consolidation of adviser firms across Europe, particularly in the UK, France and Germany, so there could be an opportunity for Allfunds Bank to offer a white-labelled platform at institutional pricing levels to adviser firms."
The analyst added: "It's good news for the platform that Santander and Intesa San Paolo have completed the sale in less than four months.
"Prolonged uncertainty around ownership might have become a challenge for client acquisition and could also have put the brakes on the international expansion."
katherine.denham@ft.com
