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Swedish bank SEB said on Monday it had signed an agreement to sell its German retail banking business to Santander, the biggest Spanish bank, for 555 million euros (698 million dollars).
The transaction includes all of SEB’s 173 retail branches in Germany, which have some one million customers and about 2,000 employees.
SEB said the transaction would allow it to focus on its merchant banking and wealth management divisions.
“The sale of our German banking business will free up capital that will be reinvested in SEB’s core strategic growth areas,” SEB chief executive Annika Falkengren said in a statement.
SEB said the price of 555 million euros was at a premium to allocated equity of 420 million euros. It added transaction costs were estimated at 375 million euros.