Amancio Ortega, chairman of the fashion group Inditex and Spain's richest businessman, is in talks with Grupo Santander to buy the Spanish bank's controlling stake in Unión Fenosa, Spain's third-largest utility.

However, Mr Ortega's offer of €30 a share, which values Santander's 22 per cent stake in Fenosa at €2bn ($2.4bn), was trumped at the last minute by Rosalia Mera, Mr Ortega's ex-wife who is also hugely rich following the listing of Inditex in 2001. In partnership with Caixa Galicia, a savings bank, Ms Mera has offered Santander €32 a share for the Fenosa stake.