Santander has agreed to participate in funding rounds totalling approximately £550 million for Ebury, its cross-border payments and international trade platform.
Centerbridge Partners is leading the investment alongside existing backers Santander, Vitruvian Partners and 83North.
Santander will invest £50 million and retain a 55% majority stake.
The parties will execute the transactions in two stages, subject to regulatory approval.
Ebury operates in 30 regulated markets and serves over 27,000 businesses.
Its platform enables payments in more than 140 currencies across 160 countries. It also allows clients to manage foreign exchange risk, transfer funds between subsidiaries in real time, and integrate with financial systems.
Since Santander invested in 2020, Ebury has grown its revenue by more than 30% annually.
The company will use the proceeds to expand geographically and develop new products.
It also plans to strengthen its AI capabilities to improve payment processing, optimise foreign exchange services and enhance the client experience.
Ana Botín, Executive Chair of Banco Santander, said:
“These transactions support both Ebury’s continued growth and Santander’s focus on disciplined capital allocation and value creation. The additional investments will enable Ebury to scale faster and enhance its offering to SMEs globally.”
Juan Lobato, Ebury’s CEO, said:
“These investments come at a pivotal time, as the evolution of digital money infrastructure and agentic payment workflows will provide strong tailwinds and further accelerate our growth.”
After completion, Santander will apply the equity method to account for its stake, which will remove Ebury’s revenues and costs from its consolidated reporting with minimal impact on the income statement.
The transaction should add around four basis points to CET1, with completion expected by the first quarter of 2027.
Featured image credit: Ebury press release
