Banco Santander plans to sell up to 24.9 per cent of its Mexican subsidiary through a simultaneous sale of shares in Mexico and New York, according to filings made to both stock exchanges.
In papers submitted at the end of last week to Mexico’s stock exchange, the Spanish bank said it would sell up to 6.2 per cent or 422.5m shares of Grupo Financiero Santander Mexico SAB on the local stock market.
It also said it would sell up to 18.7 per cent, or 1.3bn, of the shares through a simultaneous offering on the New York Stock Exchange. Participants in the international offering would receive American Depositary Shares, each of which would represent five of the Mexican-listed shares.
Filings to both the US Securities and Exchange Commission and to the Mexican stock exchange did not say when the offer would take place nor what the price of the shares would be.
However, it is understood the offer could go ahead as early as next month and that the roughly 25 per cent of the Mexican subsidiary on offer could be worth between US$3bn and US$4bn. Last week, Santander confirmed that it would retain a controlling stake in the subsidiary.