The Brazilian unit of Spanish bank Banco Santander raised 14.1bn Brazilian reals (€5.4bn) from its initial public offering on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange, making it the largest initial public offer in the world in 2009, the local Securities and Exchange Commission, CVM, said on Tuesday.

The bank sold 600 million shares in the form of units on the BMFBovespa stock exchange after market hours Tuesday. Each unit, which is represented by 55 common shares and 50 preferred shares, was priced at 23.50 Brazilian reals. The price came in below market estimates, which put the price falling at the high end of a range of 22.00 Brazilian reals to Brazilian reals 25.00 per share.