Carlos Torres’s BBVA has announced that it is pressing ahead, come hell or high water, with its hostile takeover bid for Banco Sabadell. The bank sent a note to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) reiterating its firm intention to acquire the Barcelona-based bank, despite the latter’s board of directors meeting this Tuesday to analyze an offer from Banco Santander to acquire its British subsidiary, TSB, for just under €2.7 billion (£2.3 billion).
BBVA’s note only references the difficult conditions imposed on the merger by the Spanish government (a three-plus-two-year deferral of full integration) but makes no mention of Santander’s offer (there also appears to be another unquantified offer from Barclays) to acquire Sabadell’s British subsidiary, TSB.
BBVA’s note states verbatim: “After evaluating the condition imposed by the Council of Ministers on June 24, BBVA is moving forward with the acquisition of Banco Sabadell because ‘the project creates enormous value for the shareholders of both entities and represents a unique opportunity to build one of the most competitive and innovative banks in Europe. Together, we will be a stronger entity, with greater scale and the capacity to increase financing to families and businesses by €5 billion annually, thereby boosting our country’s economic growth.
