Spain's Santander announces interest in Portugal's Novo Banco

Spain's Banco Santander formally announced its interest in acquiring Portugal's Novo Banco as part of the sale process launched by the Portuguese central bank.

Novo Banco was the bank taken over by the state in August when the Bank of Portugal bailed out its predecessor BES with €4.9bn in capital from the Portuguese bank resolution fund.

Santander's Portuguese unit Santander Totta formally expressed interest in the purchase on Tuesday evening.

“Taking into account the reference termos of the Novo Banco sale, Santander decided to enter the first phase of the process which consists in the expression of interest”, Santander Totta said in a statement.

So far, the Portuguese Banco BPI and China's Fosun Group have also begun the process. The deadline for other potential bidders to express interest is December 31st.

The bidding part of the process is not expected to start until the second quarter of 2015, according to reports.