Executive shuffle at the top of Santander P.R.
Moreno, whose resignation from the post was accepted during a regular Santander BanCorp board meeting Thursday, will be replaced by Javier Hidalgo Blázquez.
The board said in a statement that Moreno “will assume new and important responsibilities within Grupo Santander.”
Hidalgo was appointed by the board as president and CEO of both Santander Puerto Rico and its holding company Santander BanCorp. Moreno will continue to serve in the role pending Hidalgo’s completion of regulatory and legal requirements for the top post.
Hidalgo, who holds a legal degree from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and an MBA from the IESE in Barcelona, joined Santander Group in 1992. He has served the Spanish financial giant in a variety of areas including global corporate banking, and commercial banking in Spain and the Americas. His current position is director of business and institutional development of Grupo Santander’s Americas division.
Earlier this week, Banco Santander S.A. completed its tender offer for all outstanding common shares of Santander BanCorp it didn’t own.
The offer, valued at nearly $56 million at $12.69 a share, gives the Spanish bank 98.4% of the shares in its Puerto Rico subsidiary. Santander held just over 90% of the shares prior to the launch of the offer.
The offer was carried out through its wholly owned unit, Administración de Bancos Latinoamericanos Santander S.L. (Ablasa). Ablasa plans to promptly buy the remaining publicly held shares of Santander BanCorp via a short-form merger under Puerto Rico law with the completion of the merger expected to occur on or about July 29. As a result of the merger, any remaining common shares of Santander BanCorp would be canceled pursuant to the merger in consideration for the same offer price of $12.69 in cash paid in the tender offer, without interest and less any required withholding taxes, the company said.
Upon the merger completion, Santander BanCorp would become a wholly owned unit of Banco Santander. The corporation has three main business units—Banco Santander Puerto Rico, Island Finance and Santander Securities.
Moreno, meanwhile, is leaving the Puerto Rico operation on solid footing
Santander BanCorp reported net income of $41.3 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2009. That was a significant increase of $30.7 million, or 291.9%, over the net income of $10.5 million reported the previous year.
The corporation’s reported earnings per share for 2009 was $0.88 versus $0.23 in 2008.
The surge in net income was principally due to decreases of $55.6 million and $23.0 million in operating expenses and provision for loans losses, respectively, partially offset by a $25.4 million decrease in other income and a $17.9 million increase in the income-tax provision.
Return on average assets (ROA) of 0.58% and return on average common equity (ROE) of 7.25% reflected improvements of 46 basis points and 538 basis points, respectively, for 2009 when compared with 2008.
The efficiency ratio (on a tax-equivalent basis) also reflected an improvement of 362 basis points to reach 56.77% for 2009 from 60.39% reported in 2008.
In an interview earlier this year with CARIBBEAN BUSINESS, Moreno said the bank had an “extraordinary year in Puerto Rico amid a very complicated environment in which all we hear is bad news.” (CB March 11)
