Santander offers $6bn for Zachodni

Banco Santander moved to gain full control of Bank Zachodni, offering to buy out minority investors in a deal that valued the Polish lender at $5.7bn (£3.5bn).

The Spanish bank agreed in September to buy 70.4 per cent of Zachodni from Allied Irish Banks as part of a €2.9bn (£2.4bn) deal.

The past year has seen Santander pick up RBS branches in the UK, acquire the retail banking division of Sweden's SEB and buy out of its Mexican division from Bank of America.

Poland, the only European Union member to escape recession after the financial meltdown, has been a hotbed of deal activity in recent months as foreign owners sought to sell assets to raise cash.