In December 2017, Santander Asset Management Investment Holdings Ltd. (SAM) repaid all of its outstanding debt, following the disposal of its participation in Allfunds Bank S.A. Later that month, Banco Santander S.A. (Santander) completed its share buyback of the remaining 50% stake in SAM from private equity firms Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic. The debt repayment and share buyback by Santander led us to revise upward our financial risk assessment on SAM to minimal from aggressive. Consequently, we are raising our long- and short-term issuer credit ratings on SAM to 'BBB+/A-2' from 'BB/B' and removing them from CreditWatch with positive implications. We are then withdrawing the ratings at the issuer's request. On Feb. 6, 2018, S&P Global Ratings raised its
