By Jeannette Neumann
SANTANDER, Spain--In Ana Patricia Botín first official
appearance as executive chairman of Banco Santander SA she vowed to
build on the work of her father, the bank's former chairman who
died last week.
Ms. Botín said that her father, Emilio Botín, worked for almost
30 years as Santander's chairman to transform it into the "No. 1
bank in the eurozone, and one of the top 10 banks world-wide by
market capitalization." Mr. Botín died Tuesday evening of a heart
attack at the age of 79.
"My ambition is to continue this success story, to which I will
dedicate my greatest efforts," Ms. Botín said. The bank's board on
Wednesday appointed Ms. Botín to run the bank, the fourth
generation of her family to do so.
Shareholders were gathered on Monday in the city of Santander to
vote on whether to accept the bank's proposal to buy the 25% of its
Brazil unit it doesn't currently own.
Ms. Botín made the comments at an extraordinary shareholder
meeting in the northern Spanish port city of Santander, where her
father was born in 1934 and where the Botín family gathered last
week in a private ceremony for his funeral. A public funeral in the
city, attended by Spanish business leaders and hundreds of
Santander residents, was held on Saturday.
She said her father's achievements were rooted in "prudent risk
taking" and "agility," which allowed the bank to take advantage of
growth opportunities. On Mr. Botín's watch, Santander grew from a
small Spanish lender to the eurozone's largest bank by market
value.
Ms. Botín told shareholders Monday that she would continue to
prioritize the bank's dividend policy and its focus on retail
banking.
As anticipated by analysts and investors, shareholders on Monday
approved Santander's proposal for a capital increase to buy back
the 24.75% of its Brazil unit that the bank doesn't already
own.
Despite the approval, some shareholders had grumbled about the
buyback offer when Santander made the proposal in April. Some of
those investors said Santander had put them between a rock and a
hard place: If they didn't accept the offer, they would be left
with illiquid, difficult-to-sell shares. If they did agree, they
would be selling a stock just as they believe the unit's declining
share value is set to rebound.
The unit represents around 20% of Santander's net profit, neck
and neck with the bank's U.K. unit, which Ms. Botín had run since
December 2010.
But the Brazil unit has been a thorn in Santander's side in
recent years as weaker-than-anticipated economic growth dogged
Brazil and Santander's unit performed worse than expected.
Ms. Botín said she expected Brazil to see growth in coming years
from agricultural exports, the energy sector and home building for
the country's middle class. Those factors "give us confidence in
the attractiveness of the Brazilian economy, and that the country
will overcome the period of economic slowdown it is experiencing at
this time, " she said.
Ms. Botín also said she expected the bank's "positive trends" in
earnings to continue. In the second quarter of this year, Santander
reported a 38% rise in net profit compared with the previous year.
Santander reports third-quarter results Nov. 4.
The extraordinary shareholder meeting, on the bank's agenda for
months, took on a new dimension after Mr. Botín's death as it
became his daughter's first official appearance as executive
chairman.
At shareholder meetings and other public appearance, Mr. Botín
typically wore a red tie, Santander's corporate color. On Monday,
Ms. Botín donned a red scarf tied around her neck.
Write to Jeannette Neumann at jeannette.neumann@wsj.com
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