Erste in talks with Santander to buy 49% of its Polish unit

(Reuters) -Austria's Erste Group Bank is in discussions with Santander about buying a 49% stake in the Spanish bank's Polish unit in a deal that could be worth more than $8 billion, the lenders said on Monday.

Santander said it had received interest from several parties, and both Santander and Erste said there was no certainty that their discussions would lead to an agreement.

Santander has a 62% stake in Santander Bank Polska, worth about 39.4 billion Polish zloty ($10.5 billion) LSEG data shows, and the Spanish lender has been considering options for its stake, media reported this month.

Under Polish takeover law, a bidder does not need to make a mandatory takeover offer if it holds less than 50% of the votes of the target company, according to law firm Baker McKenzie.

The talks between the two banks were initially reported earlier on Monday by Bloomberg News.

Erste's stock dropped more than 4% following the news of the discussions while shares in Santander's Polish unit weakened and were last down 2.2%. That comes after a sharp rise in its share price in the past few weeks triggered by reports Santander was looking at its options.

A potential divestment in Poland would come at a moment when Santander - the euro zone's biggest lender by market value with operations throughout Europe and the Americas - is expanding its U.S. footprint in corporate and investment banking and with its digital offering Openbank.

It is, meanwhile, reviewing its British presence as part of a regular assessment of its major markets, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters in January.

In 2024, net profit at Santander's Polish business rose 18.8% to 800 million euros ($909 million), representing 5.8% of the whole group's profit.

Santander sold a 5.2% stake in the Polish unit last September.

($1 = 3.7645 zlotys)

($1 = 0.8800 euros)

(Reporting by Angela Christy in Bengaluru, Charlie Conchie in London and Jesus Aguado in Madrid; Writing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Joe Bavier)