Santander and Unicredit team to form European asset management giant

• Banco Santander (SAN +1.9%) and Unicredit (OTCPK:UNCFY) agree to merge their asset management units in a deal valuing the new group at about €5.4B.
• The merged operation will have €400B in AUM, and last year had over €25B of net inflows.
• The deal was structured to ensure Santander had no direct involvement in the U.S. part of the business (Santander's U.S. operation has failed the stress test for two years running).