Santander tries to restart M&T talks-report

 

Spain's Banco Santander is trying to revive talks to merge its U.S. operations with M&T Bank Corp after initial discussions fell apart last month over an issue of control, Bloomberg said on Monday.

The two banks recently scheduled a meeting of their top executives, but they again did not agree on control, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.

M&T shares were up 4 percent at $94.32 in midday trading onthe New York Stock Exchange.

Santander Deputy Chairman Matias Rodriguez Inciarte confirmed last week that the Spanish bank had held talks with M&T, but declined to elaborate.

Sources told Reuters last month that the stalled talks between the two could be revived.

Under the terms that were being discussed, Santander would have taken a stake in the combined entity and bought a 22.5 percent M&T stake held by Allied Irish Banks, but the talks stalled, the sources said at the time.

Santander wanted to control the combined unit, while Buffalo, New York-based M&T did not want to give up control,the sources said in May.

Santander declined to comment, while M&T was not immediately available to comment.