Santander appoints advisers to help it spin off its Brazilian arm

Banco Santander has appointed advisers to spin-off its Brazilian business in an initial public offering that could raise at least $3bn and create one of the largest publicly listed banks in Latin America’s biggest economy.

Santander, which reports its second-quarter earnings today, is drawing up the plans to float at least 20 per cent of Banco Santander Brasil on the Brazilian stock exchange within the next three months, according to people close to the bank.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, UBS and Santander are in place to underwrite the deal, with Bank of America Merrill Lynch taking the role as lead co-ordinator after it fully underwrote Santander’s €7.2bn ($10.2bn) rights issue last November.

The prospectus for the float could come as early as September, the people said, though the terms would depend on investor appetite and market performances. A Citigroup research note published last week valued the Brazilian unit at as much as $30bn when its earnings multiples were compared with Itaú Unibanco and Bradesco, the country’s two leading domestic private sector banks.

The level of demand for the offer would provide an important indication of the degree of interest that has returned to the IPO market.

Santander and its banks all declined to comment.

Emilio Botín, Santander chief executive, has identified the bank’s Brazilian operations as a key piece in the bank’s strategy, and revealed plans last year for it to become the most profitable listed bank in the country.

Santander said in a regulatory release last week only that it was analysing “the viability and advantages of an initial public offering for a minority stake” in the Brazilian arm. The business was partly acquired during the ill-fated €71bn consortium buy-out of ABN Amro in 2007, when it bought out the Latin American businesses.

Santander’s Brazilian arm is tied in third place with Bradesco for its market share of domestic deposits, while it boasts a 14 per cent market share in loans, according to Citigroup.

Two large flotations in emerging markets in the past two months have bolstered hopes for a resumption of activity. China State Construction Engineering Corp this month raised $7.3bn, while VisaNet, Visa’s Brazilian affiliate, in June raised $4.3bn.