Stocks were galvanized overseas as the U.K.’s Alliance & Leicester let slip that it accepted an all-share takeover offer from a secret suitor it finally revealed as Santander of Spain (the nation’s largest bank and a deal-making machine whose association with A&L this morning boosted the latter’s shares by as much as 52%). How the two banks, which tried and failed to hook up last year, finally got it right.
Shares in Alliance & Leicester jumped 48 per cent on Monday to 325p on news of an agreed 317p a share, all-share takeover offer from Santander of Spain.
A&L said earlier it was in advanced discussions regarding a possible offer priced at 299p a share combined with the right to receive an interim dividend of 18p a share, bringing the total potential offer to 317p a share. This puts a price tag of £1.33bn on the bank.
Santander, which late last year abandoned initial discussions with A&L over price, is offering one share for three A&L shares. It said its offer represented a 36.4 per cent premium to A&L’s closing share price on Friday.