Italian bank UniCredit and Spanish banking giant Santander have moved closer to a deal to merge their asset management businesses.
"We are nearing (a deal with Santander) and I hope there will be a positive announcement soon," UniCredit CEO Federico Ghizzoni was quoted as saying by Reuters.
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Santander Asset Management and UniCredit’s Pioneer Investments unit started negotiations about merger in September 2014.
However, talks were interrupted by the death of Santander chief Emilio Botín last year.
The deal, valuing the merged group at about 5.5bn, is likely to be inked and announced in the coming week.
According to media reports, Pioneer’s US operation will be stripped out from the combination and will be in a separate unit jointly owned by the Italian bank and the US private equity groups.
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By GlobalDataBy selling control of Pioneer, UniCredit will no longer include its assets in its accounts, boosting its common equity tier one ratio.
