WARSAW – 5 May 2025 – Greenberg Traurig advised Banco Santander S.A. (“Santander”) on the agreement with Erste Group Bank AG (“Erste”) to sell a 49% stake in Santander Bank Polska S.A. for EUR 6.8 billion and 50% of Santander’s Polish asset management business (Santander TFI) for EUR 200 million, for a total consideration of EUR 7 billion.
The agreement is conditional upon regulatory consents with completion expected towards the end of the year.
Greenberg Traurig provided legal advice to Santander with respect to the transaction.
The M&A Team was co-led by Partners Stephen Horvath and Łukasz Pawlak and included Local Partner
Maciej Pietrzak who was supported by Counsel Agnieszka Stopińska.
Senior Partner Lejb Fogelman provided strategic advice on the transaction.
The team advising on corporate aspects of the transaction included Associates: Michał Kuratowski, Piotr Brzostek, Szymon Świerszcz, Kamil Nagawski and Junior Associates: Weronika Kopeć, Patrycja Knerek and Barbara Tumm. Partners Rafał Sieński and Paweł Piotrowski along with Senior Associate Grzegorz Socha, provided advice on securities law matters. The Greenberg Traurig team worked closely with Santander’s in-house legal team, led by Javier Illescas, Group Head of Legal and Vice-secretary of the Board at Banco Santander S.A.
“This is a landmark transaction not only in terms of value and complexity, but also in its strategic significance for the future of the Polish and broader CEE banking and financial sector landscape. It also confirms the depth of Poland’s M&A market and the region’s growing pull for international capital. We are honored that Santander chose Greenberg Traurig to steer a transaction that has set a new benchmark for the region,” said Lejb Fogelman, Senior Partner at the Greenberg Traurig Warsaw Office.
“We are proud to have supported Santander on this milestone transaction. The size and complexity of this deal reflect our client’s ambition and the strength of their strategic vision, and it reinforces Greenberg Traurig’s standing as the go-to firm for high-stakes, high-value transactions across CEE,” said Stephen Horvath, Partner in the Warsaw M&A Practice.
Background on Santander and Erste
Santander is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain. With operations structured around five global business areas, Santander maintains a significant presence across ten core markets in Europe and the Americas. As one of the largest banks globally by market capitalization, Santander is publicly listed on stock exchanges in Spain, Mexico, Poland, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The bank serves a diverse client base—including individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large corporates—through a network of more than 8,000 branches and robust digital banking platforms.
Erste was founded in 1819 as the first Austrian savings bank and went public in 1997 with a strategy to expand its retail business into Central and Eastern Europe. Since then Erste has grown to become one of the largest financial services providers in the Eastern part of Europe in terms of clients and total assets.