- Title: Orcel and Santander boss Botin in court over CEO job offer dispute
- Date: 19th May 2021
- Summary: YUMBO, COLOMBIA (MAY 18, 2021) (REUTERS) CAR DESTROYED AFTER BEING SET ON FIRE DURING RIOTS THE NIGHT BEFORE VARIOUS DEBRIS AT A SERVICE STATION AFTER CLASHES BETWEEN POLICE AND PROTESTERS FALLEN STREET SIGN DEBRIS LAYING ON ROAD PROTESTERS NEXT TO BLOCKED ROAD (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER, SAYING: "We are a people, just like us, the police, ESMAD riot squa
- Embargoed: 2nd June 2021 10:08
- Keywords: Ana Botin Andrea Orcel Italian banker Santander chairwoman
- Location: MADRID, SPAIN
- City: MADRID, SPAIN
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Europe,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA001EDMOWG7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A hearing pitting Andrea Orcel against Santander over the withdrawal of an offer to make him chief executive began on Wednesday (May 19) with the Italian banker and the Spanish bank's chairman Ana Botin both present at the Madrid court.
One of the most public rows over a top banking job ended up in court more than two years after Santander dropped plans to make Orcel, previously the top investment banker at Swiss bank UBS, its CEO after a dispute over his pay package.
Orcel and Botin were both in the front row of the packed hearing on Wednesday, which is taking place in a conference hall instead of a traditional court room due to COVID-19 protocols and because of intense media interest in the case.
Botin greeted Orcel with a "good morning" before taking her seat four spaces away from her former trusted adviser, who had worked on deals for Santander while he was a high-profile investment banker, known as a "rainmaker" at UBS.
Sources close to the matter and a court document seen by Reuters on Tuesday (May 18) showed that Orcel had cut his initial claim against Santander by tens of millions of euros.
The source also said Orcel had dropped the part of his legal claim that would require the Spanish bank to hire him, because he has since been appointed CEO of Italy's UniCredit.
Orcel, who had not been called to testify, had been seeking as much as 112 million euros ($137 million) for breach of contract and the damage to his career from the last minute U-turn.
The hearing will revolve around whether a four-page offer letter was a binding job contract or a non-binding initial offer, as argued by Santander.
It is expected to be concluded in a day, but a verdict could take weeks or months.
Botin surprised the banking world when she offered Orcel, her go-to investment banker for advice on deal-making and strategy, the top job at Santander in September 2018.
But Santander changed its mind the following January, saying it could not meet Orcel's pay demands, which centred on covering up to 35 million euros of the compensation package from his previous employer UBS.
(Production: Michael Gore, Silvio Castellanos) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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