Banco Santander Río 4.95

Banco Santander Río is a commercial bank and financial services company and affiliate of the Santander, Cantabria (Spain) based Santander Group. Based in Buenos Aires, its banking operations are the third largest in Argentina, as well as the largest among all privately owned banks in the country.OverviewThe Banco Río de la Plata was established on May 14, 1968, via the acquisition of the Banco del Este by Pecom, a private holding company owned by the Pérez Companc family. The Pérez Compancs had established themselves in the Argentine business world relatively recently, through the success of the Compania Naviera Pérez Companc, a shipping company established in 1946. Gregorio Pérez Companc, the adoptive heir to the helm of the family conglomerate, purchased the bank from the Pérez Companc Foundation in 1993.Pérez Companc, for whom Banco Río de la Plata financed a number of acquisitions during President Carlos Menem's privatization drive ultimately sold a controlling stake in the bank to Grupo Santander in May 1997 for US$1.1 billion, upon which it was renamed Banco Río, and listed in the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange. Its most important acquisition during the partnership with Santander was that of Banco Tornquist, among the most traditional names in Argentine banking. Pérez Companc sold his remaining 18.5% share in February 2001 to Merrill Lynch, which later sold their stake to Santander.