BRUSSELS, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) regulators finalized clearing Banco Santander's proposed acquisition of Banco Popular Espanol, S.A. for a symbolic price of 1 euro on Tuesday.
The transaction would not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area as their combined market shares stood "generally limited" at below 25 percent, said the European Commission, the EU's executive arm which oversees competition policy.
The decision was the final step by the Commission clearing the acquisition following the executive body's approval on June 7 of the resolution scheme of Banco Popular under EU bank recovery and resolution rules, it said in a statement.
Banco Santander is the parent company of an international group of banking and financial companies, operating mainly in Spain, other European countries including Portugal and the United Kingdom, Latin America and the United States.
Banco Popular is a Spanish financial entity listed on the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia stock exchanges, operating mainly in Spain and Portugal. The resolution of Banco Popular was approved under EU bank recovery and resolution rules. It involved the sale of Banco Popular to Banco Santander.
The European Central Bank decided that Banco Popular was "failing or likely to fail" on June 6.
