MADRID -(Dow Jones)- Banco Santander SA (STD) may have to pay back some of the tax deductions it booked from its acquisition of Alliance & Leicester PLC (AL-LN) as a result of a European Commission ruling, Chief Executive Alfredo Saenz said Wednesday.
The ruling, announced earlier Wednesday calls on Spain to end a tax scheme allowing Spanish companies to write off the goodwill from acquisitions of non-Spanish companies over time.
After an investigation, the commission said the scheme gives an unfair advantage to Spanish companies when they are bidding against others in a foreign takeover.
Saenz, speaking at a press conference following the bank's third-quarter earnings, said the ruling won't affect any other purchases made by Santander.
The commission said Spain must recover the financial aid provided in this way since December 2007.
-By Christopher Bjork, Dow Jones Newswires; +34-91-3958123; christopher.bjork@dowjones.com