Santander Asset Management could be weighing options for its holding in its Allfunds Bank investment platform, including a sale of its stake, Bloomberg reports citing people familiar with the matter, which let them know that the discussions are at an early stage and the company may decide to hold on to its stake.
Santander currently owns 50% of the business while Italian Intesa Sanpaolo holds the other 50% stake.
Their sources, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private, believe the entire business could be valued at about 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) and attract interest from private equity firms.
Santander Asset Management is controlled by Spanish Banco Santander and U.S. buyout firms Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic. Santander created Allfunds in 2000 to help financial institutions get access to so-called open architecture funds. Italian lender Intesa acquired a stake in 2004 as part of Allfunds’s international expansion. The company has offices in Spain, Italy, the U.K., Chile, Colombia, Dubai, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
Allfunds reported profit of 69 million euros in 2015, up from 46.4 million euros a year earlier, according to the company’s financial report.