An approach has been made by Lloyds TSB for German bank Dresdner as the well known UK financial institution looks to maximise retail opportunities across Europe.
Lloyds TSB has ridden the credit crunch very well and as such it is in a very strong position compared with many others. This is why it is making tentative enquiries regarding the German bank, valued at around GBP6 billion. It has a keen interest in the German market generally as it is also looking at a couple of other big name German banks that are potentially for sale.
At the moment there is no immediate need for action so Lloyds TSB will seek the views of their shareholders as to their thoughts on how they wish to see their funds invested before making any further steps toward purchase.
British bank Alliance and Leicester is to be bought by Santander according to an announcement stating an agreement had been reached between the two parties.
The purchase price is understood to be GBP1.26 billion, the transaction to be made in shares. Santander will give one of their shares for every three Alliance and Leicester ones, giving the shares a value of 299 pence each which is around 33 percent higher than the share value at the close of business last week.
Interestingly, although the Alliance and Leicester as well as many other UK and international banks have suffered on the back of the credit crunch Santander have had a very good year. They have seen good returns from Latin America it appears and this has enabled them to look at acquisitions such as this one.
Citigroup, the huge financial organisation of which Citibank is a part, is being urged to break up by some union representatives.
A union president has written to the Citibank Chairman asking him to give some value back to the shareholders by breaking up the business into smaller parts. He does not want to see the supermarket approach of offering everything continued, preferring a more targeted approach.
Shares in Citigroup have fallen by over 60 percent in the last 12 months and it is felt that were the businesses to be split up so they stand on their own merits share prices in most of them would rise. Citibank is a part of all this and although there is no expectation of a shake up taking place it will still be interesting to see where the share price goes on the back of the discussion.