Sovereign Bancorp sets Jan. 28 meeting date for merger vote

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., Dec. 22 - Sovereign Bancorp Inc. shareholders will be asked to approve the company's acquisition by Banco Santander, SA at a special meeting at 10 a.m. ET on Jan. 28 in New York.

The board of directors of Sovereign recommends its shareholders approve the transaction, according to a form 424B4 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Record date for the meeting is Dec. 19.

On Oct. 13, Banco Santander, a Madrid-based bank, agreed to acquire Sovereign in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at $1.9 billion.

Sovereign shareholders may elect to receive 0.3206 Santander American Depositary Shares or Santander ordinary shares in exchange for each share of Sovereign common stock. However, Santander has the right to invalidate elections to receive Santander ordinary shares, in which case only Santander ADSs will be delivered to Sovereign shareholders, the filing said.

It is estimated that Santander will issue up to 177,407,715 ordinary shares in connection with the transaction.

Sovereign is a Philadelphia-based bank holding company.

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