MADRID – Banco Santander SA (NYSE: STD) plans to raise 7.2 billion euros ($9.2 billion at today’s exchange rate) through an offer of new shares.

The deal will “further strengthen [the bank’s] capital through a superb investment opportunity for its shareholders,” Santander Chairman Emilio Botín said in a statement today.

Existing shareholders will be able to subscribe to the offering, buying as much as one new share for each four they hold, at a price of 4.5 euros per share. Those subscription rights can be exercised during a 15-day period slated to begin Nov. 13 and end Nov. 27, the company said.

“Investors who are not Santander shareholders but who wish to participate in the issue will have to purchase four subscription rights for each share they wish to acquire,” Banco Santander added. “It is expected that these subscription rights will be traded on the Spanish electronic trading system,” the Sistema de Interconexión Bursátil Español (SIBA).

The bank last month postponed the planned sale of its asset-management and insurance businesses “until prices have recovered to acceptable levels.” The announcement, by Santander CEO and Second Vice Chairman Alfredo Sáenz Abad, came shortly after the Spanish-based lender had completed two acquisitions and announced a third.

• On Oct. 13, Santander agreed to acquire the remaining shares of Philadelphia-based Sovereign Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: SOV) – in which it already holds a 24.35-percent stake – in a stock swap valued at $1.9 billion. (READ MORE) The deal is expected to close in the first quarter – subject to the approval of Santander and Sovereign shareholders, U.S. and Spanish regulatory approvals and other customary conditions – Santander said in its regular quarterly report, issued Oct. 29. (READ MORE)

• The Sovereign announcement followed Santander’s purchase of U.K.-based Alliance & Leicester, which closed Oct. 10; and its U.K.-based Abbey division’s acquisition of the retail deposits and direct-distribution channels of Bradford & Bingley, which closed Sept. 29.

Those deals left Santander with a core capital ratio – a measure of solvency that compares core capital with total risk-weighted assets – of 6.31 percent at the third quarter’s end.

“Banco Santander has always had a very clear approach to capital strength,” Botín said today. “That is why, although we are starting from a very strong position … the Group has raised its [core-capital ratio] goal to 7 percent, in response to our higher expectations in the current economic environment.”

The upcoming preferential share offering – structured by Merrill Lynch International – is fully underwritten, Banco Santander said. Merrill Lynch, Bank of America Securities Ltd. and Santander Investments will serve as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners, and Credit Suisse will serve as joint bookrunner, the bank said. Calyon is acting as joint-lead manager for the offering, and Fox-Pitt Kelton as co-lead manager.

“Santander needed capital – so the sooner the better,” Arturo de Frias, an analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort in London who rates the shares as a buy, told Bloomberg News. But, de Frias added, “The amount [of the offering] is slightly higher than what I was expecting.”

Banco Santander SA (NYSE: STD) is an international banking group with total assets of more than 953 billion euros. It has nearly 133,200 employees at its headquarters in Madrid and 11,685 branches in continental Europe, the United Kingdom and Latin America. Additional information is available at www.santander.com. For information about Sovereign Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: SOV) and its subsidiary, Sovereign Bank, visit www.sovereignbank.com.