Alliance & Leicester bought by Abbey owner for £1.25bn
Updated on 14 July 2008
Alliance & Leicester is set to merge with Abbey as its Spanish owner Santander makes a bid to snap up a credit crunch bargain.
Shares in Alliance & Leicester have risen after the Abbey owner Santander mounted a £1.25bn takeover bid for the bank.
Last year, Alliance & Leicester saw its profits fall by 30 per cent because of the worldwide turbulence in the money markets.
To deal with this turbulence, the American government has just announced emergency measures to shore up the country's two biggest mortgage lenders, whose share prices have fallen because of worries that they won't be able to raise enough money.
