New failure for BBVA in its attempt to buy Banco Sabadell. The bank chaired by Carlos Torres has achieved the support of just over 25% of the shareholders of the Catalan entity in its purchase offer (OPA), as reported by the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).
A percentage that means not going ahead with your purchase proposal. Therefore, the shareholders who attended the offer will recover their shares in the Catalan entity.
It is the second time that BBVA has tried to buy Sabadell in less than five years without success. In fact, the Basque entity has already confirmed that “it will not continue because it has not reached the minimum level of acceptance that the bank had set.”
The CNMV breaks down that the takeover bid has been accepted for “shares that represent 25.33%” of the securities to which the offer was “directed and of the share capital of the affected company.” However, the acceptance percentage stands at 25.47% of Sabadell's voting rights, when taking into account treasury shares.
“Consequently, the public offer has had a negative result as the minimum limit set by the offeror for its validity has not been reached and, in accordance with the provisions of the offer brochure,” indicates the supervisor. “The acceptances presented to the offer will be ineffective with immediate effect, and the costs incurred will be borne by the offeror,” adds the body chaired by Carlos San Basilio.
The second failed attempt
BBVA assumes that it is not continuing, in a false step that leaves Carlos Torres' strategy at the head of the entity affected. It must be remembered that BBVA and Sabadell already attempted the merger in 2020, which did not go ahead because they did not agree on the exchange of shares. Now, it fails because it does not have the support of investors. In the summer, Torres himself assured that he was not considering resigning if the takeover bid did not go through. “Not at all,” he assured the media.
“I want to thank the shareholders of Banco Sabadell who have shown their support for the merger project, the shareholders of BBVA for their constant support and our team for the great work carried out throughout the entire process,” Torres said in a statement. “At BBVA, we look to the future with confidence and enthusiasm. We have a bank at its best, a committed team and a clear roadmap to continue growing and creating value for our shareholders, clients and society,” he added.
What it indicates is that he is going to move forward with his solo roadmap. This involves resuming “immediately its shareholder remuneration plan.” “On October 31,” it notes, it will launch a “pending share repurchase of nearly 1,000 million euros” and “on November 7, it will pay the largest interim dividend in its history (0.32 euros per share), for a total of approximately 1,800 million euros,” BBVA adds. In addition, Torres assures that the entity expects to “obtain an accumulated attributable profit” in the next four years of “approximately 48,000 million euros and have 36,000 million to return to our shareholders.”
Good news for BBVA comes from Wall Street, because the securities listed on the New York stock market have rebounded by 8% after knowing the result of the takeover bid.
Success of Sabadell's strategy
If for BBVA the takeover bid has been a failure, for Sabadell it is a success. In fact, its CEO, César González-Bueno, ventured a few days ago in an interview with elDiario.es that the result was going to be in line with what the CNMV has communicated. “It seems to me that they reach 25%. It is very difficult to put a probability, because I think that reaching 30% is very complicated,” he said.
And that the takeover bid was going to be complicated for BBVA was already intuited a few days ago, when Sabadell assured that the support among its clients with shares had been minimal. Specifically, only 2.8% of those investors who have deposited their securities in the Catalan bank accepted the offer. That was equivalent to 1.1% of total capital.
The outcome of the takeover bid has also made the Government react. Sources from the Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business indicate their “total respect for the decision of the shareholders of Banco Sabadell, who were responsible for evaluating the operation.” “We highlight the impeccable performance of all the supervisors and authorities involved in the process: Bank of Spain, CNMC and CNMV,” they add. For her part, the second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, He has defended that it was “a bad operation” because it entailed “negative effects on employment, aggravated banking concentration, made financing difficult for small and medium-sized businesses and increased financial exclusion.” “That it does not continue is good news for the country,” he assured through the Bluesky social network.
And the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has assured on social network X that the outcome confirms the need to have a banking system “adapted to the reality of Catalonia and its business fabric.” “Now we have to look ahead. We have the important role that BBVA and Banco Sabadell must continue to play in generating progress and prosperity in Catalonia.”