Sandanter offers £1.3 billion for A&L

by Gill Montia

Story link: Sandanter offers £1.3 billion for A&L

Alliance & Leicester (A&L) has confirmed that it has received a bid approach from Spanish bank, Santander.

In a statement to the London Stock Exchange this morning, the bank said it was at an advanced stage of discussions regarding a possible offer totalling 317 pence per share.

The offer is 36% above A&L’s closing price of 219.25p on Friday of last week and values the bank at around £1.3 billion.

Under the terms of the deal, A&L shareholders will receive one Santander share for every three A&L shares that they own.

The bank has been considered a takeover target since May when it revealed that it had been forced it to write down the value of its mortgage-backed investments by almost £400 million.

Santander already owns High Street bank, Abbey, and according to the group the acquisition would enable Abbey and A&L to offer more competitive products and reduce costs.

A&L has been without a chairman since April but has recently appointed Alan Gillespie, the chairman of Ulster Bank, who will take up the post at the beginning of September.