The Portuguese arm of Banco Santander would consider a possible acquisition of rival Novo Banco, depending on the price, Santander Totta CEO Pedro Castro Almeida said on Tuesday.
In September, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that Novo Banco’s owner, US private equity firm Lone Star, could press ahead with a sale, as well as a public offering of Portugal’s fourth-largest bank.
Asked whether Santander Totta was interested in acquiring Novo Banco, Castro Almeida said his bank might have to look beyond organic growth, which has become very limited in the mature Portuguese banking market.
“It’s a question of opportunity and price. So we are here to study all the opportunities,” declared Castro Almeida in a conference collected by the British agency.
The five main Portuguese banks, which also include the state-owned Caixa Geral de Depositos (CGD), Millennium bcp and Banco BPI, controlled by Caixabank, control more than 80% of the country’s banking assets, but analysts see room for a greater consolidation as a means of improving competitiveness.