Link Securities | In an interview with Europa Press, the CEO of Banco Sabadell, César González Bueno, has not ruled out the possibility of paying extraordinary dividends to distribute to its shareholders all the excess capital that the bank generates above 13% of CET1, as the bank had committed to do even before the hostile takeover bid announced by BBVA at the beginning of May.
Asked about the limit set by the Royal Decree regulating the takeover bid regime for distributing extraordinary dividends, González-Bueno explained that the limit is in share buybacks and in a “radical” change in shareholder remuneration policy. In this regard, he said that Sabadell has a “clearly defined” policy.
Regarding the authorisation process that BBVA needs to launch the takeover bid, especially from the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) and the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), González-Bueno pointed out that the CNMV has “mechanisms” to be able to wait for the CNMC’s resolution and allow the acceptance period to open with the conditions imposed by Competition, although he clarified that the decision will be entirely up to the financial supervisor.
However, he argued that “common sense” indicates that it would be “desirable” for Sabadell’s shareholders to have as much information as possible before deciding whether to take part in the takeover bid, so the ideal would be to have the CNMC’s resolution and that, in the event of going to phase 2 and commitments, conditions or a ban on the operation are imposed, the Government’s resolution should also be available before the takeover bid is launched.
