Santander agrees joint venture with China’s CCB – press

Banco Santander and the China Construction Bank (CCB) have agreed to a joint venture that will give the Spanish banking giant a presence in the Asian nation, a Spanish business daily reported Monday.

“Santander has arrived in China after formalising an alliance with CCB,” the the newpaper Expansion said.

The deal envisages a joint venture that would be held 19.9 percent by Santander and 80.1 percent by CCB to “develop banking activity in rural areas” of China, it said.

Under the accord, the new joint venture will have a total initial investment of 3.5 billion yuan (380 million euros, $535 million), the paper said.

A Santander spokesman would not immediately comment on the deal.

Profits at state-run CCB, China’s second largest bank, were up 26 percent in 2010 at 134.84 billion yuan ($20.55 billion).

Santander is the largest bank in the eurozone by market capitalisation. Last year, it posted profits of 8.181 billions euros, down 8.5 percent.

Santander shares rose 0.40 percent to 8.558 euros on the Madrid stock market shortly after Monday’s opening.