LISBON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Santander Totta, the Portuguese subsidiary of Spain’s banking giant Santander said on Thursday it bought 1.77 billion euros in Portuguese medium-term notes on Monday as part of a deal agreed with Lisbon to capitalise troubled bank Banif. “By accepting to do so, Santander Totta only sought to respond to the challenge of contributing to diminishing the state financing effort,” the bank said in a statement, denying media reports that it bought the debt in early February when Portuguese bond yields spiked to their highest since 2014. Bond yields have retreated since. The state injected 2.26 billion euros into Banif in December to cover future contingencies as part of a deal in which Santander bought the bank’s business and non-problematic assets for 150 million euros. (Reporting By Andrei Khalip, editing by Axel Bugge)
A subsidiary of Santander , Santander Finance , has said that it bought $ 1.77bn ( $ 1.95bn ) in Portuguese medium - term notes this week as part of a deal agreed with Portugal to capitalise troubled company Banif . It denies reports that it bought the debt in early March when Portuguese bond yields spiked to their highest since February .