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Azimut and Más Fondos Sign a JV Agreement in the Mexican Asset Management Market

Azimut aterriza en el mercado de gestión de activos de México — Photo: Tomas Castelazo. Azimut and Más Fondos Sign a JV Agreement in the Mexican Asset Management Market

Azimut, Italy’s leading independent asset manager, acquired 82.14% of Profie S.A., a Mexican holding company controlling the entire equity capital of Más Fondos, Mexico’s largest pure independent asset management distribution company. At the same time, Azimut signed an investment and shareholders agreement with the current management team of Más Fondos to develop the business in the future. Más Fondos distributes third party funds and has asset under custody equal to around 550 million dollars (as at 31st May 2014).

Más Fondos, founded in 2002 by a group of two Mexican corporations and the current management team with extensive experience in the Mexican financial industry, operates as a comprehensive distributor of investment funds having agreement with 12 local mutual fund houses and a market share of 10.4% as of May 2014. The company has also developed the leading system for fund analysis in Mexico called ARYES. Currently, Más Fondos has around 22,000 accounts and more than 4,100 active clients, with presence in Mexico City and 4 other major cities employing approximately 65 people, 38 of which in the sales force.

Through this partnership, Azimut and Más Fondos will cooperate to develop an integrated platform centred on a proprietary financial advisors network working in an open-architecture environment to exploit the growth potential of the Mexican market.

Subject to the regulatory approval by the competent authorities, Azimut will purchase from its existing shareholders 82.14% of Profie S.A. for around 6 million euros (8 million dollars).. The minority stake will be retained by the managers.

Lastly, Azimut and Más Fondos’ current management team will cooperate to grow the business in Mexico over the medium-long term and, to this end, have agreed to subscribe a capital increase for around € 2mn to finance the business plan. This agreement also provides for call/put option rights.

Christiane Stangl Strengthens the International Institutional Sales Team of Erste AM

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Since the beginning of June, Christiane Stangl is strengthening the International Institutional Sales Team of Erste Asset Management as Senior Sales Manager. She will be responsible for the acquisition and support of institutional clients in Scandinavia, and will hence be contributing to the strategy of Erste Asset Management to further advance the development of the target markets in Western Europe.

Ms Stangl will report to Albert Stöger, head of International Institutional Sales.

“With the appointment of Christiane Stangl, we are responsive to the rising international demand for funds and portfolio solutions, in particular within our core competences, fixed income funds and ethically sustainable products,” as Christian Schön, Member of the Executive Board of Erste Asset Management responsible for Institutional Business points out.

Prior to her joining Erste Asset Management, Stangl held a position as sales manager with Raiffeisen Capital Management. Before that, she had worked in Sales for various London-based asset managers. Christiane Stangl holds a Master’s degree in business administration and is also Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA).

Rockwood/Jamestown Led Partnership in Contract to Sell 530 Fifth Avenue for $595 Million

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Un consorcio liderado por Thor Equities compra el 530 de Fifth Avenue por 595 millones de dólares — 530 Fifth Avenue. . Rockwood/Jamestown Led Partnership in Contract to Sell 530 Fifth Avenue for $595 Million

Rockwood Capital, Jamestown, Murray Hill Properties, and Crown Acquisitions have announced they have entered into a contract to sell 530 Fifth Avenue, a 26-story office and retail building occupying the entire western block of Fifth Avenue between 44^th and 45^th Streets, for $595 million. The buyer is a partnership led by Thor Equities. The deal is expected to close in mid-September.

530 Fifth Avenue contains approximately 480,000 square feet of prime office space and another 55,000 square feet of retail space, fronting on Manhattan’s famed Fifth Avenue. Current retail tenants include Desigual, a Barcelona-based clothing retailer; JPMorgan Chase; and Fossil. Office tenants include Massachusetts Mutual, Diageo North America, Cablevision, Lionsgate and Athyrium Capital.

Rockwood, Jamestown, Murray Hill, and Crown originally purchased the property in early 2011. Since acquisition, the ownership team has invested over $10 million to modernize the building’s infrastructure, including renovations to the building’s lobby, HVAC system, elevators and common areas. Highlights include a pronounced double height entrance, new limestone walls, iconic modernist furniture, new elevator cabs and state-of-the-art security systems, which create a quality entrance in keeping with the building’s prime Fifth Avenue location.

Joe Gorin, Managing Director at Rockwood, said, “530 Fifth’s dynamic location and architectural features have provided a strong foundation from which to reposition this building as a top tier asset. This property epitomizes Rockwood’s strategy of investing in well-located real estate that provides an opportunity to outperform over the long term.”

“Fifth Avenue will always serve as an iconic location in NYC for retail and office space,” said Michael Phillips of Jamestown. “Once we repositioned the 530 Fifth Ave property with a renovated lobby, internal upgrades and amenities it was with Eastdil’s guidance we saw an opportunity to monetize the asset.”

The selling group was represented by Eastdil.

Santander Acquires GE Money Bank AB, GE Capital’s Consumer Finance Business  in Sweden, Denmark and Norway

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Santander desembolsa 700 millones de euros por GE Money Bank en Suecia, Noruega y Dinamarca — Photo: Magnus Manske. Santander Acquires GE Money Bank AB, GE Capital’s Consumer Finance Business  in Sweden, Denmark and Norway

Santander Consumer Finance and GE Money Nordic Holding have signed a definitive agreement by which Banco Santander’s consumer finance unit will buy GE Capital’s business in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The purchase price of the transaction, which is subject to relevant regulatory approvals, amounts to approximately EUR 700 million after a pre-closing dividend to remove excess capital.

Under the terms of the agreement, Santander will assume GE Money Bank’s intragroup funding. The deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2014, will have an impact of 8 basis points in Grupo Santander’s core capital.  

Emilio Botín, Chairman of Banco Santander, said: “The acquisition of GE Capital’s business in the Scandinavian countries is an important step in Santander Consumer’s growth strategy. It’ll increase its geographical diversification and strengthen its position as the leading consumer finance provider in Europe”.  

GE Capital’s business in the Nordic countries will complement Santander’s current presence in those countries and will enable Santander Consumer Finance to become a leading consumer finance provider in the region. With a loan portfolio of EUR 2.35 billion, GE Money Bank has attractive positions in consumer finance business lines, such as direct loans and credit cards, while Santander Consumer Finance is a leader in the region in auto finance, with outstanding loans amounting to EUR 8.9 billion.

Sweden accounts for 55% of GE Money Bank’s loans in the region, Norway 26% and Denmark, 19%.  Moreover, this transaction will enable Santander Consumer Finance to increase its geographical diversification while also growing its exposure to triple-A rated countries. After the integration of both businesses, Santander Consumer Finance Nordic will represent approximately 17% of the unit’s loan portfolio.  

Following the transaction, Santander Consumer Finance Nordic will have over 1.2 million customers in the region and will significantly increase its capacity and growth potential.  

We Remain Positive on Local Currency Emerging Market Debt

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Seguimos siendo optimistas con respecto a la deuda de mercados emergentes denominada en moneda local — Photo: J.Ligero & I.Barrios. We Remain Positive on Local Currency Emerging Market Debt

Global equities and global bonds made progress in May 2014, with the former outpacing the latter in local currency terms; for the month, the MSCI World index rose 2.34% in total return terms while the JP Morgan Global Government Bond index returned 0.87%. Commodities, which prior to May had performed very robustly, lost some ground as the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity index produced a dollar total return of -2.87%. Nonetheless, returns from the asset class remain well into positive territory for 2014 to date.

Looking forward, we believe that there are three questions that investors have to consider over the remainder of 2014:

How will bonds react to the normalisation of policy in the US?

What will happen in emerging markets as policy is normalised?

Will corporate profits drive equity markets higher?

Bond markets in recent months have presented us with a conundrum – indeed we held an ad-hoc Perspectives meeting in mid-May to discuss the meaningful decline in core government yields. In the US, our expectation is that GDP growth will be in the order of 2.5% this year and that the overall macroeconomic picture is probably stronger than the Q1 GDP data would suggest. All else equal, that should push bond yields higher, particularly if the Fed stops its QE programme later this year.

The outlook for eurozone bond markets is rather more difficult to call; certainly Germany and Spain appear to have positive growth momentum, which should put some upward pressure on yields if that momentum remains in train. By contrast, the growth outlook in countries such as Italy and France remains very subdued, which is likely to keep yields low. The lack of growth in France and Italy is worrying given that debt levels remain elevated at a time when inflation in the eurozone overall is very low (just 0.5% for the year ending May 2014). The ECB has responded by cutting official interest rates to record lows and now charges banks for depositing funds. It has also outlined a new programme of Long Term Refinancing Operations (LTROs) to aid bank lending and has said that it will intensify preparatory work related to outright purchases of asset-backed securities. Whether this policy response will work remains to be seen, but it shows that the ECB is definitely not resigned to a protracted period of low inflation.

In emerging markets, we remain positive on local currency emerging market debt (EMD) in our asset allocation matrix; my colleagues James Waters and Toby Nangle have commented recently on the value offered by EMD, especially for investors seeking absolute levels of yield. However, we maintain a bias against emerging market equities as we are still concerned about the macroeconomic outlook for China (which is a large constituent of the EM equity indices but only a relatively small component of EMD indices). As I have mentioned in previous comments, it is very hard to find examples of credit expansion on the scale seen in China which have not caused policymakers some significant headaches once the bonanza has ended.

Our outlook for equity markets for the remainder of the year is positive; M&A has made a welcome return in recent months, and while this increases the risk of value destruction by company managements in the longer term (e.g. if they overpay or acquire businesses that later prove to be a poor fit), it does provide an important short-term support for stocks, particularly at a time when the Fed is tapering QE. The style rotation over the last few months has been significant, but overall equity markets have been strong and current index levels suggest that investors still have confidence in the outlook for profits. For that reason, we trimmed exposure not only to government debt but also to investment grade credit in late May, as the rally in core yields had left both asset classes looking expensive. We deployed the proceeds into Japanese equities, as the fundamentals here continue to improve while the market has lagged other developed regions over 2014 to date.

Silk Invest Collaborates with Kolo Touré to Launch an African Opportunities for Footballers Fund

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Silk Invest will launch an African Opportunties for Footballers Fund in collaboration with Kolo Touré. The fund will be the first fund of its kind that will provide African footballers with a wealth management solution that not only allows the players to manage their financial assets while investing in the grand opportunity of their home continent. The fund will be domiciled in Luxembourg and will primarily invest in the African markets.

Kolo Touré is a well known top level football player from the Ivory Coast who plays for Liverpool and will compete with his national team in Brazil’s much anticipated World Cup.

The numbers of African footballers playing in the international top leagues has steadily grown in the last few years. Many of these players see themselves as African ambassadors and have shown a keen interest to invest back in Africa. Silk Invest and Kolo Touré have worked together to create a fund which will help these players to invest in professionally managed fund vehicle. The new African footballers fund will help African football players to benefit from the growing African markets while building a savings plan for their post-career financial needs.

Silk Invest has been one of the leading investors in Africa and has championed a consumer driven pan-African approach. The investment team of Silk Invest include 11 different African Nationalities across the various African regions. This is a uniquely designed fund which helps African footballers invest across asset classes in Africa and to fully benefit from the African growth opportunity.

Malick Badjie, head of Investment Solutions commented: “African Footballers now finally have a solution that not only allows them to invest their assets in investment opportunities they understand, but also lets them make a difference back home. Over the last months, we had the pleasure to closely work together with Kolo Touré to design a product which helps African Football players to invest for the long term while contributing to Africa’s growth”.

Kolo Touré, added: “My personal ambition has always been to contribute to the African continent in a positive manner. At the same time, it is important have sufficient assets to secure my future financial well being. I am very excited about this new fund and believe that we have achieved a major milestone. The new fund helps Africa’s top football players like me to meet their financial needs and support Africa’s capital markets”.

Zin Bekkali CEO and Group CIO of Silk Invest concluded: “Africa is at the heart of investment thesis and we believe that African footballers have a big role to play in further developing the continent. At the same time, we are very honoured that we can play a role in helping these African professional to better meet their future financial needs. Kolo Touré has proven to be an excellent partner in creating this fund and we are looking forward to successfully launch the fund.”

Gustavo Eiben Joins The Rohatyn Group as Managing Director

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Rohatyn Group ficha a Gustavo Eiben como managing director para su oficina de Nueva York — Gustavo Eiben, managing director at Rohatyn Group New York. Gustavo Eiben Joins The Rohatyn Group as Managing Director

The Rohatyn Group (TRG), an independent investment firm focused on emerging markets, has announced that Gustavo Eiben has joined TRG as a Managing Director. Based in the firm’s New York office, Mr. Eiben will be responsible for business development in the Americas, while bringing his deep marketing expertise to TRG’s private markets business, which includes private equity, private credit, real estate, infrastructure and green energy funds.

“We are very pleased to have someone of Gustavo’s caliber joining TRG. His track record of successful capital raising, strong network of relationships around the world, and extensive experience marketing private equity products and funds makes him a valuable addition to the TRG team as we grow our business.”

Nicolas Rohatyn, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of TRG, said, “We are very pleased to have someone of Gustavo’s caliber joining TRG. His track record of successful capital raising, strong network of relationships around the world, and extensive experience marketing private equity products and funds makes him a valuable addition to the TRG team as we grow our business.”

TRG has approximately $6 billion in private markets assets under management, in addition to more than $1 billion in liquid market strategies. TRG recently acquired Citi Venture Capital International (“CVCI”), the Emerging Market private equity investment unit formerly owned by Citigroup Inc., which expanded and enhanced the firm’s emerging markets investment capabilities and global reach. TRG also has a 60% ownership stake in Capital Advisors Partners Asia Pte. Ltd. (“CapAsia”), a Singapore-based mid-market infrastructure asset management company focused exclusively on non-BRIC emerging Asia markets, and a 50% ownership interest in ARCH Capital Management Company Limited (“ARCH”), a Hong Kong-based asset management company that invests in residential, retail and mixed use real estate projects with a focus on Greater China.

Prior to joining TRG, Mr. Eiben was the head of North America investor relations for Aureos Capital (now Abraaj Capital). He brings vast experience in the private equity asset class, including direct experience in raising and investing capital in third-party private equity funds, having done so for the Alternative Investments Group at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. Prior to his work at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, he was responsible for fundraising and business development at Schroeder Ventures US. He also previously served as a member of the UBS private equity placement group. Mr. Eiben began his career in 1999 with the Mergers and Acquisitions group at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He received an MBA degree from Thunderbird, the International Management School.

Ultra Wealthy Compete With Institutions For Commercial Real Estate

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Real estate is an old favourite amongst the super rich. But these days it’s not all about buying trophy homes. Increasingly, the world’s ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals (those with assets of US$30 million and above) are turning to the commercial real estate market for lucrative deals, even competing against institutions and the private banks.

Particularly in times of crisis, the “safe haven” cities like New York and London receive strong investment. But recent property tax changes have driven wealthy families to focus on commercial deals over residential property, contending against private banks and hedge funds, said Nisha Singh, senior associate in the private client team at law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner.

“The UHNW are beginning to pursue investment opportunities beyond residential property and are acquiring commercial properties in London: shops, offices and hotels. It is now not uncommon for UHNW individuals to compete with the institutional investors to acquire these higher-value assets,” she said.

This is the finding of the recently-published Savills report, Around The World In Dollars And Cents. The report estimated that the total value of the world’s real estate is now around US$180 trillion. Of the US$70 trillion that is “investable”, ie traded regularly – including US$20 trillion of commercial property – over half is being bought by private individuals, companies and organisations, while institutions are taking a smaller share.

“Institutions and publicly owned entities are becoming relatively less important to world real estate as a result,” said Yolande Barnes, head of Savills world research, “Since the Lehman crisis, the willingness of private wealth to take the place of debt finance or to take a higher-risk development position is now making the difference between deals done or deals mothballed.”

Savills estimates that around 35 per cent of global deals over US$10 million in 2012 were only possible because of private funding. And predominantly this money is coming from Asia. A webinar that real estate firm JLL conducted last month of 259 occupiers and investors, showed that Asian UHNW are by far the biggest property bulls, holding as much 70 percent of their wealth in real estate.

Regionally, the US market has the next largest exposure to property, with nearly a fifth of its wealth dedicated to bricks and mortar. In particular, wealthy Asians are interested by valuable office space in prime locations, with hotels and retail property also popular. Overridingly, they are looking to buy in the US and the UK, which were joint number one choice of 34 percent of respondents, with Eurozone and Australia coming third and fourth.

According to Scott Hetherington, head of hotels in Asia at real estate firm JLL, there has been a renewed drive for high-yielding hotels with a solid global brand. For example, last September the luxury Six Senses Laamu resort in the Maldives was sold by its private equity owner Pegasus Capital to a subsidiary of Singapore-based HPL for US$70 million, which is owned by Singapore’s 10^th richest man, tycoon Ong Beng Seng. Beng Seng has been building up his interests through HPL in the Maldives, and also recently bought Soneva Gili from multi-millionaire founder, Sonu Shivdasani.

And the private investment arm of the Hong Kong-based Kwok family recently bought the Hyatt Regency Hakone in Japan from Morgan Stanley, for an estimated US$56 million.

And it is not just luxury hotels. Trophy office blocks in prime locations are gaining increasing attention amongst the very rich.

In what is anticipated to the one of the largest single asset deals globally this year, 8 Canada Square, Canary Wharf in London is up for sale for an estimated £1.1 billion.

There has been strong interest from Asian buyers, particularly Chinese buyers who are seeking core assets in gateway cities, according to Alistair Meadows, head of JLL’s International Capital Group Asia, which is working on the sale.

Meadows said the iconic building appeals to both institutional investors as well as UHNW individuals, given its trophy status and its “long & strong” cash flow underpinned by HSBC’s AA- credit rating.

Mindful of the desire for trophy commercial property, private banks are helping to facilitate more of these deals too. Bernard Rennell, CEO of North Asia at HSBC Private Bank, said that clients increasingly want direct access to commercial property deals, on which they often club together. Recently the bank arranged for 50 clients to acquire a million square foot office block in Manhattan through the HSBC Alternative Investments platform (HAIL). Earlier this year, HSBC helped a group of UHNW clients invest €250m majority stake in Dublin’s Liffey Valley Shopping Centre. Clients find introductions to their peers highly valuable, said Rennell.

Mykolas Rambus, CEO of Wealth-X, believes that the growing pool of private wealth is creating ample opportunities for the industry: “We forecast that the UHNW population will grow by 22 per cent by 2018, its combined wealth – currently US$27.8 trillion – is expected to total over US$36 trillion by 2018. This presents huge opportunities for those involved in global real estate investment to create the right product in the right locations.”

Man Group Acquires Numeric Holdings

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Man Group sigue pisando fuerte en EE.UU., en donde pagará hasta 325 millones por Numeric — Photo: Nelson48. Man Group Acquires Numeric Holdings

Man Group has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire Numeric Holdings LLC. Numeric is a privately-owned, Boston-based quantitative equity manager with $14.7 billion of funds under management as at 31 May 2014.

Founded in 1989, Numeric has an attractive and established investment track record across a range of long only and long-short, fundamentally based quantitative strategies. Based on annualised returns, over 95% of Numeric’s current strategies have historically outperformed their selected benchmark over 1, 3 and 5 years. 100% of Numeric’s long only strategies covered by eVestment rank in the top quartile of their respective peer groups over 1, 3 and 5 years.

Numeric’s business has seen substantial growth in recent years, with funds under management increasing from $7.6 billion at the end of 2012 to $14.7 billion as at 31 May 2014. Numeric generated EBITDA of $47 million for the year ended 31 December 2013.

Under the terms of the Acquisition, Man will pay $219 million in cash at completion, with up to $275 million of further consideration payable to a broad group of the Numeric management team and employees (“Numeric Management”) following the fifth anniversary of completion under an option arrangement, dependent on the run rate profitability of the business. The regulatory capital usage associated with the Acquisition is expected to be approximately $325 million.

The Board of Man believes that the Acquisition provides attractive strategic, commercial and financial benefits to Man and its shareholders through the:

Creation of a diversified, global quantitative investment platform comprising AHL and Numeric, with over $25 billion of funds under management and a broad product range across alternative and long only, trend following, technical and fundamental strategies;
Further development of Man’s footprint in North America, through a recognised brand, a presence in an important investment centre and relationships with a range of institutional clients;
Provision of investment capacity in a number of strategies with an attractive and long investment track record and therefore the potential to add incremental funds under management through combining Numeric’s investment offering with Man’s global distribution capability;
Addition of a highly experienced and well regarded team with a strong cultural fit;
Alignment of the interests of Numeric Management with those of Man’s shareholders through having over 90% of the maximum aggregate consideration payable to Numeric Management being dependent on the run rate profitability of the Numeric business at the fifth anniversary of completion; and
Opportunity to achieve a strong risk-adjusted return on capital; additionally the Acquisition is expected to be earnings accretive from completion.

Commenting on the Acquisition, Manny Roman, Chief Executive Officer of Man, said: “We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Numeric, which has an excellent track record of performance and innovation in quantitative investing. The transaction provides us with the opportunity to advance two of our core strategic objectives: first, to build a diversified quantitative fund management business with significant assets in fundamentally based quantitative strategies and second, to develop further our presence in the US market. Man’s strategy is to provide the optimal infrastructure and environment for its investment divisions, enabling entrepreneurial asset management focused on delivering attractive risk-adjusted performance for clients. Numeric is well positioned to benefit significantly from our scale and resources.”

Mike Even, Chief Executive Officer of Numeric commented that: “Man stood out to us as a perfect strategic partner and today’s announcement signifies the full support of Numeric’s management team. Our key criteria from the outset was to find a new partner with a strong cultural fit who would preserve complete independence of our investment process and provide strategic support. We are excited and energised by this transaction and look forward to serving our clients with the support of Man.”

The Man Board, which has received financial advice from Credit Suisse, considers the terms of the Acquisition to be fair and reasonable. In providing financial advice to the Board, Credit Suisse relied upon the Board’s commercial assessment of the Acquisition.

Completion is subject to the satisfaction (or, where permitted, waiver) of certain conditions including the approval of Man’s shareholders. A circular setting out further details of the Acquisition and containing a notice convening a general meeting to seek shareholder approval for the Acquisition will be sent to Man’s shareholders. The timing of satisfaction of certain of the other conditions to the Acquisition is uncertain given the involvement of third parties but it is currently expected that the circular will be published in August 2014 and completion is currently expected to occur in September 2014.

Santander Signs Alliance with a Group Led by Warburg Pincus to Create a Leader in the Custody Business

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Santander vende el 50% de su negocio de custodia en España, México y Brasil a Warburg Pincus — Photo: Martin Falbisoner . Santander Signs Alliance with a Group Led by Warburg Pincus to Create a Leader in the Custody Business

Banco Santander has entered into a definitive agreement with FINESP Holdings II B.V., an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, to create a leader in the custody business. Under the terms of the agreement, which is conditional upon legal and regulatory approvals, the group which will also include Temasek, a Singapore based investment company, will acquire a 50% stake in Santander’s current custody operations in Spain, Mexico and Brazil, as the business newspapper Expansion had informed some months earlier. The remaining 50% will be owned by Santander. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2014.  

Santander is a leading custody provider in Spain, Brazil and Mexico, with EUR 738 billion in assets under custody. The transaction values Santander’s custody operations in these countries at EUR 975 million and will generate a net capital gain for the Santander Group of approximately EUR 410 million, which will be used to strengthen the balance sheet.  The company will focus on enhancing the products and services provided to its customers through greater investment in its technology platform and team.  

Warburg Pincus is a global private equity firm focused on growth investing with more than $37 billion assets under management. The firm has a long standing successful track record in financial services investing, and has previously partnered with Banco Santander to jointly build best-in-class businesses. Incorporated in 1974, Temasek is an investment company based in Singapore. Supported by 11 offices globally, Temasek owns a $215 billion portfolio as at 31 March 2013, with 71% of its underlying assets in Asia (including Singapore), and 25% in the mature economies of North America, Europe, Australia & New Zealand. Around 2% of the portfolio is held in Latin America.

Banco Santander’s Chief Executive Officer, Javier Marín said: “With this alliance, Santander will significantly increase its fund administration, depositary and custody business in markets where we are already leading providers. The transaction will enable us to increase and improve the products and services we offer our clients, with a higher value-added proposition adapted to their needs.”

Daniel Zilberman, Warburg Pincus Managing Director and Head of its European Financial Services Group, said “We are pleased to partner with Banco Santander and the Santander Custody management teamto enhance the company’sfocus on providing best-in-class products and services to its customers in Spain and Latin America. The custody market benefits from long term structural growth and we look forward to supporting management in accelerating the company’s growth and service offering.”