Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 9, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleSantander has turned down a $15 billion offer from NatWest for its UK retail unit, deeming it undervalued. Barclays had also shown interest earlier.
(Reuters) -Banco Santander has rejected an offer of around 11 billion pounds ($14.63 billion) from NatWest for its UK retail bank, saying the bid undervalued the business, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
The approach by the state-backed British lender, which was being advised by Morgan Stanley and UBS, is no longer live, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
"The UK (operations) is not for sale and is a core part of Santander's diversified business model which is proven to deliver attractive, sustainable returns over the long term," a Santander spokesperson told Reuters.
Barclays had also approached Santander with a potential bid for its UK operations, Reuters reported in January, citing sources familiar with the matter. The talks did not progress as Santander was reassessing its UK presence.
A NatWest Group spokeperson said "we do not comment on speculation," when contacted by Reuters.
Santander competes with banks including Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays in Britain, which is one of 10 markets the Spanish bank considers key, apart from Mexico, Brazil and its home market in Spain.
($1 = 0.7519 pounds)
(Reporting by Aatrayee Chatterjee in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Unnamalai L and Bageshri Banerjee; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
The main topic is Santander's rejection of NatWest's $15 billion bid for its UK retail unit.
Santander rejected the bid because it believed the offer undervalued its UK retail operations.
Barclays also approached Santander with a potential bid for its UK operations.
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