Webster Investors Approve $12 Billion Purchase by Santander

Webster Financial Corp.'s shareholders accepted the $12 billion takeover proposal from Banco Santander SA, clearing one of the last remaining hurdles for the deal.

"The transaction proposal has been approved," Webster said according to an audio transcript from the extraordinary shareholder meeting on Tuesday, adding it will publish detailed results soon. A Santander spokesperson welcomed the decision.

Spain's largest lender in February offered to buy Webster as part of an effort by Executive Chair Ana Botin to expand in the US. The target's deposit base is expected to provide a comparatively cheap source of funding and the deal will also grow Santander's commercial and retail lending business in the country.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of the year, subject to regulatory approvals, the Santander spokesperson said.

Santander is offering $48.75 per Webster share in cash and 2.0548 Santander shares in the form of American Depositary Shares per Webster share, valuing the US bank at about $73.49 per share at Friday's close. That was equivalent to roughly $12 billion for the bank as a whole.

US Senators Bernie Moreno and Tim Sheehy have expressed concerns about the acquisition and they have sent a letter to US banking regulators urging them to investigate it.

Santander has carried out several other transactions recently. It sold a majority stake in its Polish unit to Austria's Erste Group Bank AG and it bought the UK lender TSB from Banco Sabadell SA. Botin has since ruled out similar acquisitions for at least three years.