MADRID July 19 (Reuters) - Spain's biggest bank, Santander, is in talks to
sell its insurance business for up to 4 billion euros, marking the second unit
it has put on the block after a bid for British bank Alliance and Leicester,
Spanish media reported on Saturday.
Santander, the euro zone's largest bank by market capitalization, has
approached insurance firms such as France's AXA, Germany's Allianz, the UK's
Aviva and Italy's Generali over a possible sale, newspapers such as El Pais and
ABC reported.
Word of the sale follows reports on Friday that Santander was considering
selling its asset management unit for up to 3 billion euros ($4.77 billion).
Santander said on Monday it was buying Alliance & Leicester for 1.3
billion pounds ($2.6 billion) to provide critical mass to its existing UK bank,
Abbey.
The asset sales increase Santander's liquidity and give it greater
firepower to buy firms whose values have tumbled since money market turmoil
began last summer, El Pais reported.
A Santander spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Santander's insurance firm is the third largest in Spain, after Mapfre
and Grupo AXA, based on premiums of 3.08 billion euros and a market share of 5.7
percent, El Pais said.
Analysts last week said Santander had got A&L for a knock-down price.
They said the market might be less enthusiastic about further buys during
ongoing market turbulence and rapidly worsening economic conditions in Spain.
($1=.6310 Euro)
(Reporting by Andrew Hay; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) Keywords: SANTANDER
INSURANCE/SALE
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