A giant initial public offering in Brazil of shares of a unit of Spain's Banco Santander is a sign the country's capital market is recovering sharply, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Wednesday.

Santander, Spain's biggest bank, could raise as much as 15.6 billion reais ($8.62 billion) with the IPO of its Brazilian unit, Santander Brasil.

I can assure you this is going to be the world's largest IPO this year, Mantega told investors in an event organized by the Brazilian American Chamber of Commerce in New York. (Reporting by Walter Brandimarte; Editing by James Dalgleish)