MADRID - Banco Santander (BME:SAN) S.A. has announced the completion of its share buy-back program, resulting in a 2.21% reduction of its share capital. This program, which reached its maximum investment limit of EUR 1.525 billion, involved the acquisition of 341,781,250 of its own shares. The buy-back program was regularly communicated to the market in line with EU regulations.
The program's completion will lead to a capital reduction, with the bank's share capital decreasing by EUR 170,890,625 through the cancellation of the acquired shares, each with a nominal value of EUR 0.50. Following this reduction, Banco Santander's share capital will stand at EUR 7,576,246,161, represented by 15,152,492,322 shares.
This capital reduction aligns with the authorization granted by the European Central Bank on August 22, 2024, and was approved by the bank's shareholders on March 22, 2024. The board of directors is expected to implement the capital reduction on December 17, 2024.
The bank stated that the reduction aims to increase shareholder remuneration by enhancing the profit per share, a consequence of the decreased number of shares. No contributions will be returned to shareholders as the bank owns all the shares to be cancelled.
To comply with Spanish Companies Law, a reserve for amortised capital equivalent to the nominal value of the cancelled shares will be created, which can only be utilized under the same conditions as a share capital reduction. Creditors will not have the right of objection in this process.
Following the seven buy-back programs executed against the 2021, 2022, 2023, and the first semester of 2024 results, the bank's accumulated share capital reduction now totals approximately EUR 1.094 billion, equating to the repurchase of 2,188,148,980 shares since November 2021, which is about 12.62% of its shares at that time.
The final transactions under the program were carried out between November 28 and December 3, 2024, across various trading venues including XMAD, CEUX, TQEX, and AQEU, with a total of 32,081,250 shares purchased.
The corporate resolutions regarding the capital reduction will be recorded publicly, and the bank will request the delisting of the cancelled shares from the Spanish and foreign stock exchanges, as well as the cancellation of the book-entry records.
This announcement is based on a press release statement and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any securities. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and no forecast is implied.
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