Santander’s Botin Places Bet on Share Revival With Options Trade

(Bloomberg) --

Banco Santander SA Chairman Ana Botin placed a bet that the beaten-up share price of the Spanish lender she leads will recover as she acquired options on the stock.

Botin on Sept. 23 bought call options for 2.14 million Santander shares with a strike price of 2.10 euros ($2.44) per share and 1.35 million shares with a strike of 2 euros, according to a filing with Spanish market regulators yesterday. Shares in Spain’s biggest bank closed Friday at 1.5496 euros.

Santander’s shares have plunged almost 60% this year, pummeled by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economies of countries where it operates and the effect of ultra-low interest rates on its revenue. The lender’s market value is now 25.8 billion euros, compared with 88 billion euros at the end of 2014, the year Botin took the top job on the death of her father Emilio.

Botin on Sept. 25 also acquired 200,000 shares at prices from 1.54 euros to 1.57 euros, the filing said.

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