Banco Santander launched a €7.1bn stock sale to finance its clean-up of troubled lender Banco Popular Español, which it took over last month during a central bank-orchestrated rescue, MarketWatch reports.

Santander executives had said they would issue roughly that amount when the bank bought Banco Popular for a nominal €1 on June 7. The capital increase, in what is known as a rights issue, involves an offering of shares to existing shareholders at a discount, a common practice in Europe.