Acquisition

Banco Santander Central Hispano SA
16 May 2002


SANTANDER CENTRAL HISPANO ACQUIRES THE GERMAN CONSUMER FINANCE COMPANY AKB

Through this operation, the Group becomes Germany's leading independent
automobile financing firm

Madrid, May 16th 2002. Santander Central Hispano has acquired 100% of the German
company AKB Holding GmbH. The operation was carried out through a capital
increase of 109,040,444 new shares, at a face value of 0.5 euros and an issue
premium of 9.588 euros per share, amounting to 1,100 million euros. Thus, the
Bank's share capital will now be represented by 4,768,402,943 shares at a face
value of 0.5 euros each. According to estimates, the operation will not have a
dilutive effect for shareholders as of next year.

The acquisition of AKB Holding will enable the Santander Central Hispano Group
to consolidate its leadership in the German consumer finance market, where the
Bank is already present through its affiliate CC-Bank. At close of business last
year, CC-Bank's market share in vehicle financing was 3%, with 1,225,000
customers in all its business areas, versus AKB Holding's share of 10.2% and
805,500 customers.

Last year, AKB posted a net profit of 58 million euros, which it assigned to
reserves, thus strengthening its balance sheet. This year, the newly-merged CC-
Bank-AKB company expects to obtain 175 million euros in income before tax and
extraordinary items. AKB will consolidate its accounts with the Santander
Central Hispano Group from January 1st 2002.

Following the merger of both companies, Santander Central Hispano will become
Germany's leading independent automobile finance company (excluding captive
brand financing) with a 71% penetration. This is further enhanced by the
combined experience of the CC-Bank management group and AKB's advanced
technology platform, in addition to the cross-selling of products.  

The Group is consolidating its consumer finance franchise in Europe - where the
most attractive markets are focused on personal loans and vehicle financing -
whilst embarking upon a selective expansion towards Eastern Europe. With the
acquisition of AKB, the Group already has over 4.3 million customers in eight
countries: Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czechia and
Poland.

Last year, the European franchise (excluding AKB) obtained 155 million euros in
income before taxes, with a ROE of 47.1% and an efficiency ratio of 45.2%. Loans
and discounts amounted to 8,058 million euros.

According to the latest available data, referring to 2000, the European consumer
finance market (excluding mortgage loans) amounted to 731.000 million euros,
with an average volume per inhabitant of 1,997 euros. Spain, Italy and Germany
accounted for 43.9% of this business.
 
 


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange