Santander seeks to buyout Brazil unit as bank reports 8% rise in profits

Banco Santander has offered €4.7bn in shares for a 25% stake in its Brazil unit, in a bid to complete a buyback of the South American business.

In back-to-back filings, Spain’s biggest bank also reported that first-quarter profit rose 8% to €1.3bn from a year earlier.

Profits rose in Spain and the UK while earnings from Brazil fell. Faltering growth in Brazil has put pressure on profits from South America as Spain climbs out of a six-year economic slump and the UK economy outshines other G7 industrialised countries. Britain now contributes as much to Santander’s earnings as Brazil, about 20%.