Santander Ready to Fight Orcel in Court Over CEO Offer Reversal

(Bloomberg) -- Banco Santander SA is prepared to fight Andrea Orcel in court over its decision to drop an offer to hire the former UBS Group AG investment chief as its chief executive officer.

Santander is convinced it made the right decision and is ready to defend its U-turn on Orcel in a dispute over deferred bonuses at UBS, Secretary General Jaime Perez Renovales said at a shareholder meeting in the Spanish city of Santander on Tuesday.

“The bank’s decision, although difficult, was the best one for the group and its shareholders,” Perez Renovales said. The bank will prove “that a rigorous process of governance was followed.”

Orcel filed a breach-of-contract suit in Madrid earlier this month, claiming he is owed 100 million euros ($112 million) in lost salary and bonuses, according to a person familiar with the matter. The amount is about double what Santander had balked at paying the executive to compensate him for unpaid bonuses from UBS.

Perez Renovales was responding to a question from a shareholder who accused Chairman Ana Botin of lying about her reasons for not going ahead with the appointment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Charlie Devereux in Madrid at cdevereux3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Ross Larsen

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