Santander in talks to acquire Peel Hunt

The Spanish banking company, Banco Santander, is currently in talks to acquire the City stockbroker, Peel Hunt.

The firms are in early stages of the discussion, according to Sky News, with sources claiming the talks are ‘preliminary’.

The Chief Executive Officer of Peel Hunt, Steven Fine, has stated that “Peel Hunt is categorically not up for sale”.

Although specific details have not been released, the deal is expected to be worth no more than tens of millions of pounds.

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Peel Hunt was valued at £74mn (US$97.13mn) in 2010 when the staff took the majority stake in the firm from the Belgian bank, KBC.

A decade prior to this deal, KBC paid £219mn ($287.44mn) to acquire the City broker.

It is anticipated that Santander’s interest in the stockbroker could be to expand its London portfolio.

The company is currently ring-fencing some of its entities ahead of legislation that aims to separate retail and investment banking, to be introduced in 2019.