Wednesday, September 29, 2010

The Tortured Mating Dance Of M&T and Santander

Even though the right amount of money has a way of smoothing over many differences, it looks like the all-too-logical acquisition of M&T Bank (NYSE:MTB) and Spain's Santander (NYSE:STD) is once again leaning more towards "unlikely" than "likely". With reports out there suggesting that talks once again broke down over an issue of control, it may be time for both parties to move on and pursue strategies that do not involve each other. 

The Story So Far
Both Santander and M&T Bank have acknowledged that the two companies have talked about possible combinations, but so far they have not managed to strike a deal. While M&T is a fine target in its own right, it is probable that Santander's interest originated in the struggles of Allied Irish Banks (NYSE:AIB). Allied Irish owns a large chunk of M&T (about 22%), but desperately needs to clean up its balance sheet and raise capital. Consequently, that stake in M&T is pretty much up for bid. 



Please click the link to read the whole article:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2010/The-Tortured-Mating-Dance-Of-MT-And-Santander-MTB-STD-AIB-HBC-USB-PNC-STI0929.aspx

Correction - Got a very nice email from MTB's head of Corp Comm., who pointed out that MTB has not actually officially/formally responded to any of these rumors/stories. So, I have asked the editors at Investopedia to correct the piece to reflect that. 

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